At COSTEP event, Edinburg EDC makes pitch to investors from India

EDINBURG, Texas – Growth, growth, and more growth. That was the message Carlos Garza, project manager for Edinburg Economic Development Organization, made a pitch to investors from India.

The event was hosted by the Council for South Texas Economic Progress and was held at the Casa De Palmas in McAllen.

“One of the things that we boast here is that we are the fifth fastest growing city in Texas. That’s Edinburg. We are actually ranked 12th in the United States. Why is that? Because we have over 140 subdivisions in preliminary review, construction or construction review. That totals over 5,700 lots,” Garza said.

“If you are looking for a house you can go to Edinburg, you can go to Weslaco and go to McAllen. But we have them. There’s so much growth going on right now in all of our region, which is great.”

Edinburg is growing so fast there is not a lot of industrial or office space, Garza explained.

“We have one percent availability, a vacancy rate of one percent, for offices. That shows you that there is no office space available in Edinburg. And a four percent vacancy rate for industrial. Every time some listing comes up, they go. They go so fast, Garza said.

“The target areas that we’re looking at, healthcare, biotech, logistics, manufacturing, they’re all coming in fast into Edinburg and the region, because they know what’s going on and what’s happening.”

Edinburg has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the Rio Grande Valley, Garza told the investors from India.

“We boast the lowest unemployment rate right now with McAllen because we’re pushing for that. We’re pushing with job fairs and we’re pushing with different initiatives that will help out all these different industries be able to fill their occupancies.”

Carlos Garza, project manager for Edinburg EDC, makes a pitch to investors from India. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

While everyone in the Valley may know Edinburg is home to UT-Rio Grande Valley, the visitors from India might not have. So, Garza explained.

“Edinburg has a university. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is housed in Edinburg. It is a large university with over 35,000 students. All these students are coming out and they want to work and they’re looking for internships, jobs. They’re going out of town and we’re trying to keep them here. With our regional partners, we work together with all the different ideas of building CESS buildings, building innovation centers so that we can keep them here.”

CESS stands for Community Engagement and Student Success. The UTRGV building is being renovated, Garza explained. He said it is going to be ready in a year.

“UTRGV is building a 50,000 square foot CESS center. The CESS building is going to house new additive manufacturing, semiconductors, and it will also help bring in startup companies that are interested in growing in the region.”

Edinburg is also home to a lot of healthcare activity Garza told the investors from India.

“Health care is huge (in Edinburg),” Garza said. “South Texas Health System, DHR (Health), the new Driscoll (Children’s) Hospital. Thousands of health care jobs are coming over here,” Garza said.

“This presence is because we have a medical school. The (UTRGV) medical school actually houses and keeps all of these students, so there’s a commitment with scholarships and other opportunities to keep regional and outside students to work here in our region. That’s awesome.”

Garza said DHR is Edinburg’s largest employer.

“DHR has so many things going on, including robotic surgeries, neuroscience institutes. A lot of the top performances that they’re doing in their hospitals… we’re super proud of.”

Garza continued with this general theme of growth, growth, and more growth.

“There’s so much growth. We’re getting a football team. The Valley is getting a football team, which is awesome. We have football, we have health care, we have new jobs. This is just amazing. Like, who thought about this ten years ago? Who would have thought that the area, which people used to call a desert, is now a huge area that rivals San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston? (We have) our new (South Texas) triangle area of growth.”

Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of everything Carlos Garza said to the investors from India:

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