Garza: We are soon going to need another industrial park in Edinburg

MISSION, Texas – Raudel Garza, executive director of Edinburg Economic Development Corporation, says he expects his city’s industrial park to be full by the end of the year.  

“There’s a lot of growth. Obviously, residential is driving a lot of that. Health care is driving a lot of our growth. But we are also selling a lot of properties in the industrial park,” Garza said.

“As a matter of fact, by the end of this year, I project we’re going to sell out of our land in the industrial park. So things were going very well.”

Asked if EEDC would then need another industrial park, Garza said: “We will be looking for more land, yes, absolutely. We’re also working with our airport because our airport has about 600 acres available for future development. So we’re working on master planning that as well.”

It was put Garza that TxDOT’s construction of State Highway 68 could not come fast enough. “That’s going to be a very good asset for us,” Garza responded.

SH 68 will run from I-69 Central, near South Texas International Airport in Edinburg, intersecting I-2 in Donna, and connect with the State Highway 365 toll road in San Juan. 

And what about the I-69 Connector TxDOT is planning? This will connect I-69 Central in Edinburg to I-69 East in Harlingen. “There is kind of transportation that’s coming in and it will help every city in the region grow. So we’re looking forward to that,” Garza said.

Marketing the region

Garza gave his exclusive interview to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service at an economic development and marketing meeting at La Fogata in Mission. Over 50 industrial developers, empresarios, business leaders, bankers and economic development officials participated. The meeting was called by the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force to get input from the private sector on how best to market the region, both North Tamaulipas and South Texas.

Garza said it was a very productive meeting.

“I’ve been involved in economic development here in the Rio Grande Valley for a long time. And some of them have been rich regional efforts. But this is the first time that I’ve seen the private sector really step up and kind of take a lead on giving us direction,” Garza said.

“It’s important for them to be a partner with the public sector and so I’m excited with what’s going on. I’m excited with the trajectory that we’re going on.”

Garza said he is looking forward to the next meeting.

“It is about putting people together so that we can move this action plan into implementation phase.”

Asked if the private sector had come up with a name for the region, to market abroad, Garza said: “No decision was made on that but the wheels are turning, if you will, and so people are talking about different names and different ways of bringing our identity more in focus, so that people can relate to where we are. So it’s important to include not only South Texas, but also northern Mexico. So, we’re getting there. We’re getting there.”

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