Garza: Remarkable surge in construction activity represents phenomenal growth for Edinburg

EDINBURG, Texas – The economic vitality of the City of Edinburg has never been better, says Mayor Ramiro Garza.

“I can tell you with full confidence that our city is better than it’s ever been. 2023 was a banner year for our city on all fronts, from the economy to public safety, to quality of life,” Garza said, during his recent State of the City address.

The theme of the address was Experience Edinburg. 

“You know embracing life here in Edinburg means striving for excellence, driving economic development, empowering our community and actively shaping a brighter future together,” Garza said.

“With clear objectives guiding our path, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to fiscal responsibility, propelling economic growth and enhancing infrastructure to elevate the quality of life for all our residents.”

The population of Edinburg now stands at 105,453 residents, Garza said. He said the population has doubled in the last 20 years. “Our growth exemplifies that we’re making things happen in Edinburg,” he said.

Garza then shared stats about all the construction happening in his city.

“I’m happy to share another remarkable achievement that embodies the essence of this year’s theme, Experience Edinburg. In construction activity, Edinburg has not only embraced progress, but it has set a historic precedent with record breaking growth,” Garza said.

“Our construction activity soared to a jaw dropping $397 million in 2023, marking an extraordinary increase of over $103 million when you compare it to the previous year. This remarkable surge represents phenomenal growth for our city and stands as the pinnacle of achievement here in our city.”

In 2023, Garza said, 2,200 new lots were constructed within 54 new subdivisions. “We’re talking about more than 700 acres of land development.” 

Garza predicted 2024 will be even better. 

“We’re well on our way to surpassing those numbers, if you can believe it, because here in 2024 we currently have 145 active subdivisions under review or construction,” Garza said.

“These 145 subdivisions are bringing over 4,000 new lots onto the market this year. That’s almost twice as many as we reported in last year’s State of the City. So the record breaking growth continues.”

Garza also announced impressive statistics on the employment front.

“Let’s take a look at some of the other economic indicators here in our city. In 2023 we consistently held the second lowest unemployment rate in the Valley, averaging at 4.8 percent,” Garza said.

“And when it comes to sales tax (collections), we hit another milestone in 2023. We collected almost $37 million in sales tax revenue, which represented about a 6.2 percent increase from the previous year.”

Garza said this marks an all-time record for the city. “We have never seen that before. And our taxable retail sales reached over $1.8 billion last year.”

As for capital investment, the value of all the projects totaled more than $300 million in 2023, Garza announced.

A big part of that capital investment was due to UT-Rio Grande Valley, Garza said, explaining that the university is building a new student theater and athletics expansion.

“All that translates into job creation. We’ve seen an increase of over 1,754 jobs in 2023. Edinburg’s economic scene is booming, and we are proud of our progress,” Garza said.

Garza said the city council is investing $96 million across the city. “That’s a combination of streets, drainage, parks, trail upgrades, and public facilities,” he said. 

Garza praised his fellow council members – David White, Daniel ‘Dan’ Diaz, Jason De Leon, and David Salazar, Jr.

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