MISSION, Texas - The Council for South Texas Economic Progress is close to landing two big manufacturing firms, one in the food industry and the other in aerospace.
COSTEP cannot reveal many details just yet but CEO Adam Gonzalez has confirmed that, if South Texas wins out, one of the companies would be making a $50 million investment and the other anywhere between half billion dollars and 1.5 billion.
Gonzalez gave the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service an exclusive and wide-ranging audio interview.
“We are working on some projects, of course, because that's our main focus - to bring industry and bring new businesses here to the region that create well paying jobs for our residents,” Gonzalez said.
“And, since we work regionally from Laredo to Brownsville, we feature a vast array of assets that are at our disposal.”
Gonzalez said his colleague, Rick Carrera, is working with the two companies. Carrera is director of economic development for COSTEP.
“One of them is a pretty large investment, $50 million investment. The other one could potentially be starting at a half a billion dollar investment up to $1.5 billion investment,” Gonzalez said.
“I can't divulge a whole lot. You know how this works. But, we are getting some traction, we are getting some leverage. We appreciate the support from all the EDOs in the region that have given us their support in order for us to do our job. And, we welcome any other opportunities to collaborate, regionally.”
EDO stands for economic development organization.
The Guardian asked Gonzalez whether he could confirm that both prospective companies are manufacturers.
“Yes, they are,” Gonzalez replied. “One is in the food industry and the other, all I can say, is in the aerospace industry. So that's about as much as I can give out at this point. But, you’ll start hearing about it in the near future or even sooner.”
So COSTEP is close to landing one or both projects, Gonzalez was asked.
“Yes, we are. We're close,” Gonzalez confirmed.
On its website, COSTEP says it is “advancing regional prosperity through the addition of a strategic framework for economic development.” This framework, the website says, is “data-driven and market-validated, with a strong emphasis on job creation and building a regional talent pipeline, all working toward the goal of creating a virtuous circle of education and employment to drive sustainable economic growth and prosperity for the region and its citizens.”
Here is the audio interview with Adam Gonzalez:
Earlier this year, on behalf of COSTEP, Gonzalez participated on a trade mission to Europe with the Texas Economic Development Corporation. Gov. Greg Abbott was involved in some parts of the tour. First Lady Cecilia Abbott participated throughout. The Texas delegation visited Germany, France and England.
During the England leg of the tour, economic development leaders from San Antonio visited with UK heavy machinery maker JCB. Later, it was announced that San Antonio had secured a $265 million manufacturing facility. JCB said it would create 1,500 jobs over the next five years.
Asked if South Texas could pull off something like this in the future, Gonzalez said: “I believe so. I think we just need to get more traction. We need to add more suppliers to our region. And that's one of the focuses that we have, to bring suppliers in from Mexico and match them with companies, manufacturers, here in the US.”
Gonzalez said COSTEP would like to have an event in the region that highlights the assets it has. The group bring site selectors to the region every Spring.
“I would like to have an event here for that. So that they (big manufacturers) can see the region and they can see that they can set up shop here and that we are in the in the heart of the North American roadway system.”
Gonzalez added: “We've tried to sell to the site selectors the fact that you can travel from anywhere in Mexico through Valley and hit any part of the United States, north, east, west, all the way up to Canada on our interstate system and our rail system as well.”
