Flores: 200 technology analysts from 16 countries learned what makes the RGV special

MCALLEN, Texas – Susie Flores, director of U.S. business recruitment for McAllen Economic Development Corporation, has given a favorable report on Zoho Day.

“This month we participated in Zoho Day. Zoho Corporation is a technology company that continues to grow in McAllen. Zoho invited over 200 technology analysts from 16 countries for an immersive summit. It took place at the McAllen Convention Center,” Flores said.

“The industry experts that attended the summit play a critical role in shaping business trends, and influencing buyer decisions for Fortune 100 executives across IT, CRM, HR, ERP, security, workforce productivity and digital transformation. 

“We’re extremely happy that the Zoho corporate leadership chose to host this annual event in McAllen, showcasing what makes the Rio Grande Valley so special.”

Flores gave her report on Zoho Day in remarks at this month’s South Texas Manufacturers Association meeting, held at DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in McAllen.

Flores also reported on three other economic development projects in McAllen.

Ticketmaster

“One of our commitments for the month of January was Ticketmaster. They used to be in Pharr but they now have a new location at the PNC building in north McAllen. They have leased 15,000 square feet of space. And they have about 90 to 100 employees. This project was brought to us by Site Selection Group,” Flores said.

McAllen Nearshoring Industrial Park

“Also in the month of December, as many of you may already know, we had the inauguration of the McAllen Nearshoring Industrial Park, located off of Ware Road and Idela Avenue. That is approximately 130 acres. It is a development owned by CIL Capital. They are looking to build two speculative buildings of roughly 160,000 square feet. They have also pre-sold a large number of lots. So we should see some new construction going up this year in that development,” Flores said.

McAllen South Industrial Park

“Also in January, infrastructure development began at the new McAllen South industrial park. So pretty soon we will be inaugurating that park as well. The park is located between 23rd Street and 10th Street off of Military Highway. The park is roughly a 120-acre development, owned by the Fallek and Wallace families. Once infrastructure development is complete, they plan to develop a 200,000 square foot cross dock speculative building,” Flores said.

Flores concluded her report by giving an overview of McAllen EDC’s current workload.

“At MEDC we continue to work with a pipeline of 22 companies. Nineteen projects are in the U.S.. Three projects are in Mexico. If we do get all these companies to commit we are looking at about 3,000 jobs and roughly three million square feet of industrial space,” Flores said.

A thousand software engineers and designers

Keith Patridge also spoke about Zoho when he appeared as a panelist at an RGV Partnership 2024 Leadership Class event. It was held at the Center for Education & Economic Development in Mission.

Patridge said that when Zoho first came to McAllen, McAllen EDC housed the company’s software developers in an office within the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone. When Zoho quickly outgrew this they were housed in the City of McAllen’s downtown incubator on Main Street.

Now, however, Zoho needs even more space, Patridge reported.

“They said, ‘we need more land.’ They said, ‘we’d like to find about 90 or 100 acres to build a campus.’ And so we found them a 90-acre tract. And they are… I don’t know whether they’ve signed it yet or not, but I’m sure that they have. They’re going to build a campus there,” Patridge said.

Patridge then explained what Zoho plans to do with the campus.

“Their intent is to have somewhere between a minimum of 500 and as many as 1,000 software engineers and designers here. In addition, the owner, it’s a privately held company… he’s buying up other other tech companies. He’s bought an automation company. He owns a semiconductor company. He’s looking at putting those here on that campus,” Patridge said.

“So, what we’re looking at is… long term, we’re looking at that company… turning around and probably bringing thousands of jobs here. High paying, good paying jobs.”

The post Flores: 200 technology analysts from 16 countries learned what makes the RGV special appeared first on Rio Grande Guardian.