MCALLEN, Texas - Ralph Garcia, chief operating officer for McAllen Economic Development Corporation, says a big project will be announced next week.
“Next week, we'll be making a formal announcement on a project that represents a $225 million investment, with up to 500 new jobs that will be created. So be on the lookout for that,” Garcia said.
“If you see it in social media, please share that. The more we get that out there, it benefits us, because a lot of companies are looking at where's the next place to go and grow. And so if we show, by example, that those opportunities still exist in our market… we need to make sure that we're putting that message out there.”
Garcia made his comments at an McAllen EDC Quarterly Stakeholders Committee meeting, held at the offices of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce.
In his COO’s report, Garcia gave an update on the projects MEDC is currently working.
“Activity has been steady. We have 27 active projects, three new leads during this reporting period,” Garcia said. “Of the 27 projects that we're working, only four of them are looking at the Reynosa market for growth, for potential. The rest are looking stateside.”
Garcia then explained why there has been less activity on the Mexican side.
“Some of the challenges on the Mexico side, well, not challenges, but the things that we're keeping an eye on are: there's been recent labor reform in Mexico, and that's caused some of the companies to kind of contract a little bit in terms of how their growth potential is. We're also looking at USMCA revisions, and I'm sure Jorge will touch on that a little bit, but that's also coming up. And so a lot of uncertainty, and that's causing companies to hold a little back on projects.”
The “Jorge” Garcia was referring to was Jorge Torres, president of Interlink Trade Services. Torres was present at the meeting and later gave a report on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the current tariff situation.
Garcia said although economic development activity in Reynosa has been quiet, there is a lot happening on the U.S. side.
“They (companies in Mexico) are exploring potential U.S.-side operations, and those are the targets that we're going after,” Garcia said.
“That concludes my report.”
