The road to expansion in Brownsville

The road to expansion
April 07, 2010 8:03 PM
By EMMA PEREZ-TREVINO, The Brownsville Herald

The City Commission moved forward Tuesday, authorizing management to enter into a partnership with a group of developers for the West Morrison Road expansion.

City Manager Charlie Cabler said Wednesday that the proposed agreement continues to be fine-tuned. He said that the group of developers that includes attorney Dennis Sanchez and developer Neal Simmons first have to form a tax-exempt non-profit organization, which hasn’t happened yet.

“They need to get that resolved,” Cabler said. “We are trying to enhance the trust level.”

Cabler was not able to say Wednesday if voters would have had to approve the bonds that the city intends to apply toward the expansion. Cabler said he would review this with the city’s legal department.

Being touted as the first ...

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NAI RGV's Mike Blum speaks about the economic picture in the Rio Grande Valley

NAI RGV's Mike Blum spoke today at the Rio Grande Valley Builders Association general membership luncheon. He presented an informative and insightful presentation about the economic picture in the Rio Grande Valley.

"Mike's professional background and experience is impressive and we are excited to have him provide this program to benefit RGVBA members."

For more information about the economic picture of the Rio Grande Valley please contact Mike Blum.

Click here to contact Mike directly. I also invite you to visit our website at http://www.nairgv.com/ or call us at 956.994.8900.

Official: Donna int'l bridge on track to open ahead of schedule

Official: Donna int'l bridge on track to open ahead of schedule
April 07, 2010 11:03 AM
Martha L. Hernández
The Monitor

DONNA — The Donna International Bridge could be open by early June — ahead of schedule and under budget.

The bridge, which connects Donna to Rio Bravo, will be the first for the U.S. city and the second for Rio Bravo, which includes Nuevo Progreso.

Donna will be the bridge’s sole owner on the U.S. side; the city borrowed $40 million from Bank of America and plans to make back its money from bridge revenues.

The Donna Economic Development Corp. ...

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Rio South Texas Region Landing on 'Best Places' Lists in a Number of Areas

Best Places You May Never Have Heard Of
Rio South Texas Region Landing on 'Best Places' Lists in a Number of Areas
SOURCE Rio South Texas Economic Council
PR Newswire

EDINBURG, Texas, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- A largely unknown and often overlooked area of the United States is not only starting to get noticed, but is also earning national rankings as the place to live, get a job, go to college and start a business. One of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. with a total population of 2.3 million, Rio South Texas encompasses the southernmost tip of Texas and the northeastern part of Mexico. The region is currently the third largest market in Texas, the 23rd largest market in the country and the largest U.S./Mexico border region in America.

Over the past six months, the region has been ranked nationally in the following areas:

•America's Best-Bang-For-The-Buck Cities. McAllen -Edinburg- Mission ranked 7th for its solid housing market, stable employment, enviable cost of living and quick commute. (Forbes.com, November, 2009)

•America's Fastest-Recovering Cities. McAllen-Mission-Edinburg ranked 48th in this list of 100 most economically secure U.S. metros based on diversified industry and stable housing market. (Forbes.com, November, 2009)

•Safest Hospitals in America. Hospitals in Brownsville (Valley Regional Medical Center), Edinburg (Doctors Hospital at Renaissance and Edinburg Regional Medical Center), Harlingen (Harlingen Medical Center), and McAllen (Rio Grande Regional Hospital and McAllen Medical Center/Heart Hospital) ranked among the best 5% in the nation based on low complication and mortality rates. (HealthGrades, Inc. January, 2010)

•Deep Seaport handles record waterborne in-transits. The Port of Brownsville placed 3rd among the Top 20 U.S. Ports handling Foreign Waterborne In-Transits ahead of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. (U.S. Corps of Engineers – Transportation Facts, December, 2008)

•Most Secure U.S. Places to Live for 2009. McAllen metropolitan area ranked 7th in large metro areas (500,000+) in the sixth annual ranking of safest cities. (Farmers Insurance Group, December, 2009)

•America's 10 Next Recovering Job Markets. McAllen ranked 3rd and Brownsville ranked 4th based on Economy.com's projected job growth in the first three months of 2010.

•A+ Rating. Fitch Ratings gave the City of Harlingen an "A+" rating based on the city's stable financial history, healthy fund balances, increasingly diversified economic base, below average unemployment and moderate debt ratio. (Fitch Ratings, October, 2009)

•50 Best Places to Launch a Business. McAllen ranked 16th among the best midsize places in the U.S. to launch a small business. That same study showed that small business start-ups in McAllen-Mission-Edinburg grew by 13% from 2004-2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And McAllen and Brownsville ranked 1st and 2nd among metros with the lowest wages. (CNNMoney.com, October, 2009)

•America's Best Public Colleges. University of Texas Pan American ranked No. 32 in the top 100 list for "America's Best Public Colleges" and was ranked 218 in the complete list of 600 "America's Best Colleges". (Forbes.com, September, 2009)

"These rankings and ratings indicate that Rio South Texas is fast becoming recognized as a healthy market for more than job creation," said Miki McCarthy, Director of San Juan Economic Development Corporation. "This area is proving itself to be among the best and safest places in the country to live, work, learn and do business. We have a lot to boast about, and that's just what we're doing!"

Rio South Texas Economic Council, a public and private association of economic development interests, was formed in 2008 to promote the collective assets of the Rio South Texas region to attract private sector investment, economic diversification and business expansions. RSTEC – with its tagline "Two Countries. One Region. Many Choices." – is aggressively pursuing six core industry segments: automotive manufacturers and suppliers; aerospace; metal products; medical devices; electronics manufacturing and assembly and renewable energy.
Media Contact:


Sofia Hernandez
Toll Free Line: 1-888-RSTEC01 (888-778-3201)
Direct Line: 956-607-1197
news@riosouthtexas.com
SOURCE Rio South Texas Economic Council

Harlingen has land for Valley medical school

Harlingen has land for Valley medical school
By Lynn Brezosky - Express-News Web Posted: 03/30/2010 4:58 CDT

HARLINGEN — This city's hopes of hosting a full-scale medical school in the Rio Grande Valley got a boost Tuesday when Mayor Chris Boswell announced a 35-acre land donation to site the facility.

The announcement accompanied a California consulting firm's presentation of a strategy to expand the Regional Academic Health Center, an arm of the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio, into a campus where the Valley's first new class of doctors could graduate as early as 2021.

Some 800 UTHSC-SA students have completed their third and fourth years at the RAHC since it opened in 2002.

The RAHC has two buildings in Harlingen in addition to research branches at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg and the University of Texas-Brownsville. It is part of a growing medical complex in Harlingen that includes two hospitals, a veterans care center now being expanded and a comprehensive health clinic.

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Manufacturing Jobs Alive and Well Here, Says Rio South Texas Economic Council

Press Release
Manufacturing Jobs Alive and Well Here, Says Rio South Texas Economic Council

Forbes.com  03.31.10, 09:27 AM EDT

EDINBURG, Texas, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. That's what Rio South Texas has in more plentiful supply than most U.S. cities. In fact, Forbes.com recently ranked McAllen and Brownsville the 3rd and 4th fastest growing job markets in the United States, respectively. Manufacturing jobs are front and center stage.

To ensure continued job health, the 21 economic development members of the Rio South Texas Economic Council (RSTEC) are collaborating to compete on the world stage to bring new manufacturing jobs to the region.

"We know what manufacturers want, and Rio South Texas delivers the goods," says Alma Colleli, Executive Director of San Benito Economic Development Corporation. "We are ideally located to offer the competitive advantages and global logistics companies are demanding. We have the low wage, skilled workforce in Mexican maquiladoras (assembly plants) across the border. The region also has the infrastructure and multi-modal transportation and distribution systems required to compete in the global market - international bridges, rail, seaport, major highways. We have the industrial parks and land to offer build-to-suit solutions. Finally, Rio South Texas has the capital, research base, favorable taxes, incentives and low cost of doing business in a business-friendly area that offers great quality of life."

Extensive research has uncovered six core industry segments that RSTEC will be targeting:
-- Auto manufacturing & suppliers...

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Perryman: McAllen Has Been a Great Place to Weather the Recession

Perryman: McAllen Has Been a Great Place to Weather the Recession

By Joey Gomez

Rio Grande Guardian

McALLEN, March 30 - When considering the best place destined to weather the current recession, there is no place better than McAllen, according to renowned economist Ray Perryman.

As the keynote speaker at the city's 2010 Economic Forecast Summit on Tuesday morning, Perryman gave his predictions on how the region will fare as the recession moves into the recovery phase.

“You couldn't find a better state to be in than Texas during something like this, you can't find a better city to be in than McAllen at this time,” Perryman told summit attendees. “That's not to say there haven't been hardships like job losses, but on virtually every truth that is right in evaluating cities and how they did, McAllen is somewhere in the Top 5 best cities to weather this whole situation.”

Tantamount to the region's success in the current downturn include some early net job growth, steady employment, and a “healthy set” of banks, Perryman said. The region has also piqued the interest of companies, who are looking for an ideal place for low-cost production.

“Companies are becoming absolutely obsessed with cost control in the economy, and that makes us more attractive in a lot of areas. So, we are forecasting growth over the next term,” Perryman said. "

By the numbers, experts at the summit predicted that jobs in border MSAs will likely grow from 1 to 4 percent in 2010 as a forecasted improvement in electronics and auto manufacturing will stimulate job growth along the border. Job growth in Texas will likely...

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Texas banks lending more

Texas banks lending more
Borrowers shunned by national banks finding funds here

Austin Business Journal
By: Christopher Calnan ABJ Staff
Friday, March 19, 2010  Modified: Monday, March 22, 2010, 12:00am CDT
 
Bucking the national trend, Texas banks continued to increase their lending levels during 2009 compared with 2008. Industry observers point to Texas’ stronger economy combined with the state’s mortgage restrictions as enabling banks to maintain lending levels during the recession.

Texas’ 629 banks reported $247.1 billion in loans and leases last year versus $233.5 billion during 2008 and $229.1 billion during 2007, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Nationally, total loan and lease balances declined to $7.2 trillion during 2009 compared with $7.8 trillion in 2008 and $7.9 trillion in 2007.

The nationwide decrease is being attributed to several factors, including federal requirements that mandate banks to keep more cash on hand than previous years.

The increased activity in Texas is a positive if it was prompted by business expansion, but not if it was caused by increased credit card debt, industry experts said. The FDIC doesn’t break down the type of lending that has occurred, but local bankers indicate that much of the increased activity is the result of businesses coming to Texas banks after being shunned by national giants.

Lending levels are important to the state because they fuel growth — enabling businesses to expand and residents to complete projects such as building new homes or starting new businesses, said John Heasley, general counsel for the Texas Bankers Association.

Locally, high oil prices and banking regulations adopted in Texas following the real estate bubble of the late 1980s and early 1990s largely muted the recession’s effects. Those regulations, coupled with the Lone Star State’s diversity of business sectors, are contributing to the strong lending position, Heasley said.

“We’re still very strong in our fundamentals,” he said. “For a major state, we have the healthy economy and healthy environment for borrowers and lenders.”

Last year, U.S. banks...

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Little Known Area One of Nation's Largest Regions

Little Known Area One of Nation's Largest Regions

Region is 3rd Largest Market in Texas and 23rd Largest Market in United States

EDINBURG, Texas, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- What region of the United States straddles two countries, has a total population of 2.3 million, is the 8th fastest growing area in the U.S. and is located within 150 miles of 10 million people? What is being described here is Rio South Texas, the largest U.S./Mexico border region that is also among the country's largest metropolitan areas.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Rio South Texas is the 23rd largest market in the country. The region encompasses the four southernmost counties in Texas – Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy – along with the cities of Reynosa, Matamoros and Rio Bravo in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The market is not quite as large as Pittsburgh, but bigger than Portland/Vancouver.

Rio South Texas is also the third largest market in Texas, behind Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington and Houston/Sugar Land/Baytown, respectively 4th and 6th largest MSAs in the United States.
The Cities of Rio South Texas

The major U.S. cities of Rio South Texas include: Brownsville, the region's largest city located at the very southernmost tip of Texas; Harlingen, which is roughly 25 miles north of Brownsville; and McAllen, located some 35 miles to the west of Harlingen. The region also includes the Gulf of Mexico beach resort city of South Padre Island and a number of other communities such as San Benito, Port Isabel, Weslaco, San Juan, Pharr, Edinburg, Mission, Roma and Rio Grande City.

Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen with a population of 750,000, is the largest Mexican city in the region. Rio Bravo lies in the center of the regional border and has a population of about 84,000 and Matamoros, just south of Brownsville is home to 423,000. All of these cities are in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

"What's interesting is that few people know about this area, which happens to be not only one of the largest population centers in the country, but also a fast-growing business hub," said Keith Patridge, President of the McAllen Economic Development Council. "The Rio South Texas Economic Council (RSTEC) is charged with first – getting this huge area on the map in terms of awareness, and second to tell our story about why this is a viable region for locating anything from a small business to a global manufacturing facility."

To promote the collective assets of the region, RSTEC was formed in 2008. Representing all economic development interests in the region, the 21 RSTEC members are collaborating to attract private sector investment, economic diversification and business expansions in six core industry segments.

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Media Contact:
Sofia Hernandez
Toll Free Line: 1-888-RSTEC01 (888-778-3201)
Direct Line: 956-607-1197
news@riosouthtexas.com

SOURCE Rio South Texas Economic Council

http://www.riosouthtexas.com/

McAllen economy recognized — again

McAllen economy recognized — again

March 23, 2010 9:56 PM
Sean Gaffney
The Monitor

McALLEN — Greater McAllen has topped another list for economic performance, this time as the only U.S. metro area among the nation’s 100 largest to register net job growth since the onset of the recession.

McAllen area employment grew 0.7 percent...

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