Rubiano: A new Texas Triangle is emerging: Houston to San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – In an interview with the Rio Grande Guardian back in August 2022, economic development leader Nathan Burkhart coined the phrase “South Texas Triangle,” saying it covered Monterrey, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley.

Burkhart was then director of small business development for Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation. He is still with the group but is now vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Well, now, Burkhart’s good friend, businessman Ricardo Rubiano has now come up with a slight variance. He says the South Texas Triangle encompasses Houston, San Antonio and the Valley, with a spur going down to Monterrey.

Rubiano gave his analysis during a recent podcast with the Guardian. He said:

“You’ve got our own (Texas) triangle reversed, because you’ve got the old classic, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio triangle. We’re starting to see the development of a reverse triangle. San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley and Houston.”

Rubiano, a co-founder of Open EB5, explained his rationale.

“Think about the energy development of Corpus Christi, the energy development of the Rio Grande Valley and how that inter-connects. You’re starting to see, very quietly, the lithium manufacturing facility in Robstown. So, I’m not saying that it’s today, but we don’t live in the world of today. We live three or four years from now.”

Rubiano explained why he said this. He said being a real estate developer he has to project forward.

“It takes me that long (three or four years) just to get one unit on the ground. That’s from the word go. So, I have to pay attention to what the federal government is doing. Why are they spending so much money interconnecting San Antonio with the Rio Grande Valley? They spent the money connecting San Antonio with Houston. That leg stands on its own. I think if anything that starts to feed down, it’s feeding into the (new) triangle.”

Rubiano said investors are already developing inside the old, original Texas Triangle of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio.

“People are developing inside the triangle, the original Texas triangle. But I think we’ll be back in five or seven years, talking about the Southern Triangle. You’ve got the Gulf Coast; you’ve got multiple ports. You’ve got Brownsville, which is basically the Port of Northern Mexico. You’ve got Corpus Christi, which is a massive energy port. Houston is a world class port. You’re seeing the new triangle is going to be Houston to San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley.”

And what about Monterrey? This cannot and should not be left out of the equation, Rubiano said.

“Somehow, you’ve got to figure out the little pieces. But you’ve got Monterrey. (You’ve got) Laredo sitting there. Laredo is a huge logistics thru port. So, maybe you don’t end up with a triangle. It’s just a natural way of mirroring the Southern Triangle. But I think that anything between that triangle, Monterrey… that’s huge. Monterrey is twice the size of Houston, so you cannot discount that at all. You’ve got to count that.”

Back to Burkhart. He was asked, back in August 2022, if his vision of a South Texas Triangle was catching on. He responded:

“We will have some exciting announcements next month. Not only with Monterrey but a few other cities in Nuevo León that want to be a part of this South Texas Triangle concept. We have already secured MOUs with our partners, Geekdom and VelocityTX in San Antonio. We have already got great relationships here in the Valley with everyone already being a part of the RGV Partnership in this ecosystem.

“I see Corpus and Laredo coming into the fold as well. They might not make the exact triangle shape, but they are still part of this ecosystem, this South Texas Triangle economic development area that we are developing.”

It was put to Burkhart that the population within the South Texas Triangle would rival other major regional powerhouses across the United States. He replied:

“If the Rio Grande Valley were a state, we would be bigger than 13 other states in the United States. We are really one monolith. It is due time we get that respect and attention that we have been receiving these past three to five years and just start capitalizing on it.”

Burkhart then gave an example.

“The population of North Dakota is probably 900,000. Hidalgo County is already over that. And that is not including Cameron, Willacy, Starr. If you really want to make that number big you include our sister cities of Reynosa and Matamoros. You are looking at an enormous amount of people that are under-represented and under-valued. It is due time for us to receive that attention.”

Editor’s Note: Click here to watch the Guardian’s in-depth podcast with Ricardo Rubiano.

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