Garza: ‘Tremendous growth’ happening in Edinburg

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MCALLEN, Texas – Edinburg’s residential numbers continue to grow and that drives retail development, says the city’s economic development director, Raudel Garza.

“Rooftops drive retail,” Garza said, in an in-depth presentation to the Greater McAllen Association of Realtors.

By way of example, Garza cited H-E-B.

“H-E-B has committed to expanding their existing location on Freddy Gonzalez and McColl to the tune of a $33 million investment. The existing store will now be well over 100,000 square feet in size. So, a very large investment, very large facility.”

To meet the demands of hospitality, the Courtyard by Marriott recently broke ground on a 104-room hotel that will be fully constructed by this time next year, Garza predicted.

“It’s a local hotel development company that’s been around for a while. But there’s still room for more hospitality. So, if you guys have some clients who are looking for a piece of land where they can build the next hotel, we can show them that particular piece.”

Explaining the work Edinburg EDC does, Garza said they focus on business retention and attraction, along with workforce development.

“Attraction is probably where we spend most of our time, chasing after companies that are going to make a big impact in our community. We also spend a lot of time on workforce development. So, what we call BRE, Business Retention and Expansion, recruitment, and workforce those are the main things that we work on.”

Garza said EEDC does do some downtown development.

“We’re working on some downtown development projects. We’ve done a program that we call FLIP, or Facade A Lot Improvement Program. Basically, it is a grant program. Last year, we gave $400,000 to 38 businesses that were trying to improve their appearance,” Garza said.

“So, esthetically, we can improve the way that the businesses live. This year, we are doing it again. Round Two, another $400,000 that our board decided to set aside, and we’ve already chosen this year 43 businesses that are participating in the program.”

Garza said that on the industrial side, Edinburg has a 250-acre industrial park.

“There are 77 acres that are privately owned – that are still available, and we have another 35 acres or so that the EDC owns, that is still available. But other than that, everything has been either sold or developed, more recently than not.”

Garza said Edinburg is experiencing a lot of growth and he thanked the realtors in the audience for helping to sell a lot of the city’s homes and lots. “Also, for those of you who are the commercial side, thanks for selling a lot of the commercial property as well.”

Garza said Edinburg’s population has risen to over 108,000 people.

“We’re the tenth fastest growing city in Texas and the 25th fastest growing with 100,000 or more in the United States. Twenty-fifth in the United States. That’s pretty impressive,” Garza said.

The built-in advantages Edinburg has include the fact that it is the county seat for Hidalgo County and that it is home to UT-Rio Grande Valley. “Obviously that makes a big impact. We have over 4,800 businesses out there,” he said. “Our regional population is something we always brag about. More than the 108,000 people in Edinburg that are part of 1.4 million people in the region. “That is what makes a difference in how people look at the region,” he said.

One way of measuring Edinburg’s growth is to look at construction activity. Garza said that activity has been tremendous.

“We’ve had or two years in a row with well over $300 million in construction activity, both residential and commercial. That was in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, we’re on pace to exceed the $300 million as well. So that is just a tremendous growth that’s going on. There’s well over 5,800 residential lots that are either under development, in the planning process, or about to be platted. So, if you think about four people per household and 5,800 lots, that’s how many more people we are going to be growing in the near future. “t’s nonstop.”

Garza also spoke about his city’s largest employers.

“Our larger employers are really mostly governments or healthcare. Healthcare is one of our largest employers in the region. Some say between 30 to 40 percent of the workforce is actually in the healthcare industry,” Garza said.

“DHR has almost 6,500 people working in Edinburg, UTRGV has close to 5,300 people. There’s about 5,000 people working for the school district. There’s 700 people working for US Customs and Border Protection. Another 3,500 for the county, 3,300 for South Texas Health System, 1,600 for the city, Maximus is one of our larger employers at 1,400,” Garza said, rattling through the numbers.

“The list goes on and on, Garza said, explaining that he would soon be adding a new name to the ranks of large employers.

“Driscoll is one of the newer medical facilities that just opened up last year. They have 600 beds, and they have well over 1,000 employees that are going to be on that list as well. Again, DHR and South Texas Health System are two the larger ones. These are not just generators for the community, but for the entire region. These three (including Driscoll) different entities serve the entire region, all of South Texas, all of Northern Mexico. That’s where people come in to take care of their healthcare needs.”

Meanwhile, UTRGV, with an enrollment at well over 34,000 students, is a now a “medical trailblazer” thanks to its school of medicine, Garza said. He said he was looking forward to UTRGV opening what it is calling the WERC (Workforce, Economy, Research and Community Center) at the old Haggar building.

“It is supposed to be a place where they’re going to be able to do soft landings for foreign companies. They’re trying to bring new business to South Texas, incubate new manufacturers and then obviously help with workforce development,” Garza said.

And do not forget, Garza said, football is coming to Edinburg in the shape of the UTRGV Vaqueros. “This is another exciting thing happening in Edinburg. Obviously, the RGV Toros were at the stadium that is now going to be the home to the Vaqueros. The first game is in late August. Hopefully everybody has already bought their season tickets, because they’re sold out,” Garza said.

“Vaquero football has been impacting region. It has made a difference in our business, in terms of how many people are actually reaching out to us. There are a lot of restaurants, a lot of retailers who are interested because of what’s happening in Edinburg because in football, but also just because of the overall growth of the university. So, that’s something that we’re really excited about.”

Another advantage for Edinburg, Garza said, is South Texas International Airport.

“Some people don’t know we have an airport with 5,000 square feet of linear runway. That airport is looking at expansion. We have just committed another half million dollars towards investing in taxi ways that’s going to open up some hangar development. So, if you have some clientele that have deep pockets with private aircraft, they’re going to be able to build their hangar in Edinburg and fly to Edinbur and avoid the congestion of other airports.”

In addition, Garza said, the City of Edinburg got another $10 million allocated by the state legislature this biennium for the airport. “So, they’ll be able to work on extending that runway even longer, so that in the future we can have larger aircraft landing there.”

At North Industrial Park, Garza said, land is available. “We’d love to talk to you about it. The land values have continued to rise as demand increases. Like I said, there are about 40 acres, 35 acres, that are still available and we would love to sell, and then there are an additional 70 acres or so that are adjacent to that, that are also available.”

Editor’s Note: Here, below, is a video recording of the first half of Raudel Garza’s presentation at the Greater McAllen Association of Realtors event. The second half will be posted in our next edition: