BROWNSVILLE, Texas - If all the projects the Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corporation is working on come through an additional 23,000 jobs will be created, either in the city or at the Port of Brownsville.
That is according to Gilberto Salinas, president and CEO of GBEDC. In an exclusive interview with the RGG Business Journal, Salinas pointed out that the group’s Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Impact Report states that $183.7 million of inward investment has been brought in. He said he confident that next year that figure will be in the billions.
“For the projects we are working on, we've got about $20 billion in the pipeline. That is from Brownsville to the Port of Brownsville to Starbase, that little triangle of activity. It's just burning right now,” Salinas said.
And jobs?
“The last number that I checked was 23,000 to 24,000 jobs, linked to all these different projects that we have. So our last annual report was in the millions of dollars. The next annual report, later this year, is going to be in the billions of dollars. It's just very exciting to be living here in this time,” Salinas said.
Salinas said Linde was the first official tier one SpaceX supplier that came into the area. It is building a $100 million air separation plant in Brownsville to support SpaceX operation.
“I like to say, with SpaceX, that’s going to be the gift that continues to give,” Salinas said. “And when you look at our budget and then also at the investments that we brought into the area, it's a 20-to-one. So for every $1 that our organization spends as part of our budget, $20 is reinvested into our community by way of primary jobs. And that is the backbone of economic development.”
Salinas said it is likely that the 20-to-one figure is a “pretty high” when compared to other EDCs around the state and the nation.
“We have excellent lead-generation, an internal lead generation machine that helps us develop all this prospect activity. We work a lot with the Governor's Office, with Cameron County, and with the Port of Brownsville,” Salinas said.
“We are just very excited, just to see what those numbers are going to look like at the end of this fiscal year, because by the end of this fiscal year, those millions are going to be turned into billions of dollars.”
Salinas was asked what the chances are of those 23,000 new jobs materializing. “What are the chances of all those projects coming off?” Salinas was asked.
“One company is going to have 10,000 of those jobs, but still, that's a lot of jobs, and there is a high probability that we'll hit on at least half of those. And if we hit on 12, 13,000 jobs, that's not a bad day.”
The RGG Business Journal secured its exclusive interview with Salinas at a Council for South Texas Economic Progress event in Brownsville. Here is a video recording of the interview:
