BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Judging by the speeches made after a tour of some of today’s biggest job creators in the area, the City of Brownsville is taking the lead as the Rio Grande Valley’s main driver of the regional economy.
From SpaceX on Boca Chica Beach to the south to the Port of Brownsville and its two of its biggest tenants - RGV and Texas LNG – to the north and the industrial parks and redevelopment of Palm Village taking place, thousands of jobs are being generated right now.
And the job creators are having an impact Valley-wide as people from as far as Pharr, Edinburg and even McAllen are commuting back and forth to work in this part of South Texas.
LNG, for example, has a labor force of about 1,600 right now and the number is expected to increase throughout the construction phase of the project expected to go on during a ten-year period.
The BTX Developers Tour, hosted jointly by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and Greater Brownsville Incentive Corp., started and ended at GBIC’s headquarters on E. St. Charles Street.
Jerry Briones, GBIC’s deputy executive director, said the annual event is held to showcase some of the big things going on in the city today and which they are proud of.
Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., described it as a transformation impacting not just this city but the entire RGV.
“Brownsville is Number One in the state in terms of jobs growth,” he asserted. “Income and home values are rising and we are just getting started.”
Even though the eyes are on Brownsville, Cowen the whole Valley needs to work together.
Daniel Silva, CEO with the RGV Partnership, said he has been impressed with all the success going on in the lower RGV.
“The Valley was behind for a long time because people were afraid to make investments,” he said. “But look at what is happening now.”
As an example of that, he mentioned the LNG projects that are bringing jobs from a 100 miles radius.
Silva said the tour and presentation at SpaceX gave him the impression he was not in the Valley. He said it is hard to fathom that rockets are being built and launched in the region.
Eleazar Rodriguez, director of industrial parks development with GBIC, mentioned the two current industrial parks projects going up.
One is called North Brownsville Industrial Park and the other is the Greater Brownsville Tech District at the port.
And Ramiro Gonzalez, director of development with OrigoWorks, said the real estate company has been busy closing on projects that call for warehouse and industrial spaces.
In addition, he said the old Palm Village Shopping Center and corner where El Globo Supermarket was located on Price Road and the Frontage Road will be occupied by a number of tenants.
As one can see today, Brownsville is no longer the ugly duckling that some people used to call it, a business entrepreneur commented to another at the end of a tour that ended with a mixer.
