McAllen named one of top places for Logistics

McAllen named one of top places for Logistics

McAllen Economic Development Corporation Blog

November 6, 2009

Recently Expansion Solutions Magazine awarded the McAllen Economic Development Corporation with the 2009 Award for Excellence for its strategic link for logistics.

McAllen will be featured as an award winner in the magazine’s upcoming winter issue.

McAllen, TX, strategically located on the US-Mexico border, is a fast-growing metro area that also is home to numerous Fortune 500 companies. McAllen is also home to Foreign Trade Zone #12.

NAI RGV to Attend the ICSC Conference in San Antonio

ICSC Conference in San Antonio Novemebr 2-4 click here for more information.

STC to host symposium reflecting on the Valley's past, present and future

STC to host symposium reflecting on the Valley's past, present and future
Jennifer L. Berghom

The Monitor

McALLEN — South Texas College is hosting a symposium next week that looks at how much the Rio Grane Valley has changed and where it is headed.

The Old Valley/New Valley: Analyzing the Past, Present, and Future of the Lower Rio Grande Valley symposium will be at the college’s Cooper Center Nov. 4 to 7. It will include discussions the Valley’s history from its colonial days to its position as a center of international commerce, said Trinidad Gonzales, an STC history professor and organizer of the event.

The symposium will include panel discussions on issues related to the area’s growth, including population shifts, education and the economy, as well as Hispanic culture, Gonzales said. The healthcare panel listed on previous flyers has been cancelled, he added.

Presenters are expected to show trends reflecting how the Valley has changed from its days as an agrarian society to a growing urban international trade center.

The symposium will also touch on how the Valley is becoming more diverse, with people from other parts of the country, as well as the world, have been moving into the area, Gonzales said.

“We’re at an interesting time. We’re at a turning point,” Gonzales said.

Of note is a session scheduled for Nov. 5 where five experts from both sides of the border will discuss the past, present and future of the Valley’s economy, according to the college.

Gonzales said the idea for the symposium came from a professor from the University of Texas at Austin he was talking to when he attended a conference in that city more than a year ago. Gonzales and the UT professor, José Limón, were discussing how the Valley had grown, especially over the past couple of decades and decided it would be a good idea to bring together experts to reflect on the area’s evolution as well as its future, Gonzales said.

“We decided to shoot for it. We didn’t think we were going to get it,” Gonzales said.

With a $20,000 matching grant from the University of Texas — UT and STC each pitched in $10,000 — Gonzales and his staff spent the next year and a half developing the symposium.

“We shot for the stars but we were also pragmatic,” he said.

Gonzales said he hopes the symposium will attract everyone from policy makers to the average citizen interested in learning about the area’s history and where it is headed.

“Knowledge is important,” he said. “We’re trying to serve our constituency.”

City of McAllen Creating Jobs

City of McAllen Creating Jobs
Action 4 News
ValleyCentral.com
McAllen city leaders say their community is thriving, creating jobs... Click Here to View Action 4 News Full Report

Mercedes-Benz dealership to open in San Juan in mid-2010

Mercedes-Benz dealership to open in San Juan in mid-2010

October 29, 2009 9:49 PM

Nick Pipitone

The Monitor

Picture: San Juan Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Miki McCarthy stands behind Bill Bird, left, Alfonso Cavazos, center, and Ronn Heller at a news conference Thursday at the Basilica Cafe to announce that a Mercedes-Benz dealership will be built in San Juan.

SAN JUAN — City officials and leaders on Thursday announced the arrival of a new Mercedes-Benz dealership in San Juan, hailing the mid-2010 opening of the luxury car vendor as part of the city’s continued economic maturation and expansion.

Mercedes-Benz of San Juan will begin construction on a 30,000-square-foot dealership in December on the north side of Expressway 83 east of Farm-to-Market Road 1426. The owners are projecting $15 million in annual sales, which would generate an estimated $50,000 in local sales taxes each year, city officials said.

The new business will also create 20 full-time jobs paying hourly wages of more than $14, said Bobby Rodriguez, board president of the San Juan Economic Development Corp.

“We’ve been praying and praying as a community to make that transition,” Mayor Pedro Contreras said at a news conference at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle-National Shrine. “For many years our city has been looked upon as a bedroom community, but we’re slowly but surely making that transition into also being considered a city with businesses.”

Mercedes-Benz initially sent owners Ron Heller, Bill Bird and Alfonso Cavazos to McAllen nine months ago to look at the city as a possible location for a new dealership in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. But Heller and Bird — who own a dealership just north of San Antonio in Boerne — liked the location available in San Juan near Expressway 83, and they began to develop a relationship with this city’s economic development corporation.

The duo said their dealership in Boerne did a lot of business with Valley residents who made the drive north, despite there being another Mercedes-Benz dealership in Harlingen. The automaker has been looking to open another branch in the Valley for the past few years because of that demand.

Mercedes-Benz of San Juan will join several other luxury car dealerships in the Lower Valley, most of them in McAllen. Despite the region’s low income level, Bird said there is also “a lot of wealth” in the area to support another luxury dealership.

He and Heller opened their Boerne dealership in 2004 and have since expanded from 27 employees to nearly 100 while selling about 1,800 cars annually.

“We really expect to see the same amount of growth in San Juan,” Heller said. “We know that it’s one of the 20 fastest-growing areas in the country.”

Mayor Pro Tem Lupe Rodriguez remembers visiting Boerne several years ago before the dealership opened, when it was a “very small community” similar to San Juan. He had to drive down a dirt road to get to a golf course in town where he played.

“Go see Boerne now and Boerne is booming,” he said.

Lupe Rodriguez thinks the new dealership, along with the opening of a new Bank of America branch, will help San Juan make the same transition and attract more high-end retailers to the city.

“We had a very aggressive economic development plan when we ran for office, and this is the fruits of our labor,” City Commissioner Armando Garza said.

Garza said economic development like the new dealership will help the city gain more business from many of the wealthy Mexican nationals who come to the city to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle-National Shrine.

The easy access to the dealership from Expressway 83 will also bring in customers from throughout the region and its bigger population centers, like McAllen, Brownsville and Harlingen, he said.

“You’ve got low-income subdivisions all in this area,” Lupe Rodriguez said, referring to the neighborhood surrounding the basilica. “But hopefully that’ll change.”

Census: McAllen(Texas) most multilingual city in U.S.

Census: McAllen(Texas) most multilingual city in U.S.
KGBT
Posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:11:52 PM by SwinneySwitch

CBS News is reporting that McAllen is the most multilingual city in the United States, according to the latest census data.

The Census Bureau Tuesday released its American Community Survey results, which charts a range of social, economic and housing data in U.S. metropolitan areas.

CBS reported that the running survey, which is different from the traditional once-a-decade census, tracks three years worth of data.

The latest figures cover 2006 to 2008. Among the findings:

• McAllen, Texas has the highest percentage of people age 5 and older who speak a language other than English at home - 84.2 percent while Charleston, West Virginia has the lowest - 1.8 percent.

El Paso, Texas is the only other metro area with more than three-quarters of its population speaking another language.

• The Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area ranks first in foreign-born citizens with 36.9 percent. Altoona, Pa., ranks last with just 0.9 percent.

Only two other areas top 30 percent - San Jose, Calif., and Los Angeles.

• San Jose, Calif., boasts the highest median home values - $739,700 - while Odessa, Texas ranks last with $68,200. California dominates the country in this category.

While San Jose is the only metro area to top the $700,000 median value, the six others that exceed $600,000 - Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Salinas, Napa, Santa Barbara and Oxnard - are all in the Sunshine State.

• Provo-Orem, Utah and Laredo, Texas share the top spot for largest average household with 3.5 people. Ocean City, N.J., ranks last with 2.0 people per household.

• New Yorkers have the longest commute to work, checking in at 34.5 minutes, followed closely by Washington, D.C., at 33.2 minutes.

Residents in Grand Forks, N.D., have the shortest commute and live in the only metro area with an average commute time under 15 minutes.

McAllen Ranks 12th Among 40 Strongest U.S. Metro Economies

McAllen Ranks 12th Among 40 Strongest U.S. Metro Economies
Business Week

"The fastest-growing and affordable McAllen area is about 10 miles from the Mexican border. Employment in the McAllen metro peaked in the third quarter of last year. Gross metropolitan product peaked in the second quarter. Home prices grew 0.6 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. And the unemployment rate in June was 11%, up 3.4 points from a year earlier."

Full Article
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Rene Ramirez appointed interim Hidalgo County Judge

Rene Ramirez appointed interim Hidalgo County Judge

Rio Grnade Cuardian

By Joey Gomez
EDINBURG, Oct. 27 - Hidalgo County Commissioners Court has appointed Rene Ramirez, chief of staff to state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, as interim County Judge.

Ramirez takes over from J.D. Salinas, who resigned Monday in readiness to take up a position Region 7 Administrator with the General Services Administration.

"I am deeply honored. I take this position very seriously," Ramirez told the Guardian, in a phone interview.

Once he is sworn into office, Ramirez will be head of county government in the sixth largest county in Texas until January, 2001. Asked what his main attributes for the job are, Ramirez said: "I have an understanding of government both on a state and federal level and am able to communicate with people. I want to continue the good work of Judge Salinas."

Salinas was on the dais at Commissioners Court on Tuesday afternoon, even though he handed in his resignation Monday. Salinas participated in the vote for his temporary successor.

Salinas, along with County Commissioners Tito Palacios, Oscar Garza and Sylvia Handy voted for Ramirez. County Commissioner Joey Flores did not. Handy later rescinded her vote saying she thought she was voting for Rene Ramirez, the Pharr attorney.

Earlier in the day, McAllen attorney Rick Schell was unsuccessful in his bid to get an injunction against Commissioners Court taking a vote today. Schell filed the injunction in state District Judge Noe Gonzalez’s District 370 Court in Hidalgo County on behalf of Weslaco resident Servanto Herraro.

Schell did not believe Salinas had the authority to participate in the vote having already resigned.

“Judge Gonzalez denied the injunction on pretty technical legal arguments,” Schell told the Guardian via a text message.

The Guardian will have more on this developing story later today.

Texas Retail Roundtable with NAI Rio Grande Valley's Mike Blum: Cover Story for Texas Real Estate Business Oct. 2009 Issue

TEXAS RETAIL ROUNDTABLE WITH NAI RIO GRANDE VALLEY'S MIKE BLUM
Texas Real Estate Business
Cover Story October 2009
Compiled by Lindsey W. Marcec

Picture: Mike Blum partner and managing broker with NAI Rio Grande Valley

Retail real estate professionals from across the state discuss the industry’s performance this year and what they foresee for 2010 and 2011. Full Article


West Texas and the Rio Grande Valley
From Amarillo, El Paso, Lubbock and McAllen, respectively, the following professionals participated in the roundtable discussion: J. Gaut, president, J. Gaut & Associates; Bob Ayoub, president of MIMCO, Inc.; Wesley Hallmark, senior investment advisor for Sperry Van Ness
Hallmark & Assoc., Inc.; and Michael Blum, partner and managing broker with NAI Rio Grande Valley.

TREB: What is the current state of retail activity in your market?


Blum: New leasing has slowed considerably in the Rio Grande Valley since the economic downturn. Access to capital for tenant finish-out has created a huge impediment to entry. Landlords with pre-existing facilities did not have funds in their budgets to cover unanticipated TI costs not covered by lenders.

TREB: What leasing or development trends have surfaced during the downturn?

Blum: Overall, the trend is not much leasing. It seems the most interest in retail leasing is in the food business. Both locals and chains are still looking for quality sites. This has been a very strong market for restaurants and we expect this trend to continue.


TREB: Have any major developments come on line this year?

Blum: No new projects have surfaced and not much is planned for the balance of 2009. Most major developments are in a holding pattern.


TREB: Which types of retail product are doing the best?

Blum: Neighborhood is doing best.


TREB: Have any major retailers entered or exited your market?

Blum: The third Best Buy opened this year at Palms Crossing. Ashley Furniture opened its first Valley store this year, and Rooms To Go and Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen are both under construction with their first Valley stores. Buffalo Wild Wings is under construction with its second McAllen store. Several CVS/pharmacy stores have opened this year. Mervyns, Circuit City, Linens ‘n Things have closed their doors. Other retail is very slow.

TREB: What is vacancy like? Are rental rates holding steady?

Blum: We don’t have a current update; however, we are seeing more vacancy in well-leased strip centers and slow to no growth in existing centers with shell space. Rental rates range from $12 to $21, depending on the location.

TREB: How is the second half of the year performing compared to the first half?

Blum: For the Rio Grande Valley, the second half has been worse.


TREB: Do you believe things will turn around in your market in 2010?

Blum: Unless the financial markets ease up, tenants are going to struggle trying to find dollars for their improvements. Landlords are going to have a tough time leasing space unless they have funds to finance TIs.

Click Here to View Full Article

Updated: Salinas hands in his resignation as Hidalgo County Judge

Updated: Salinas hands in his resignation as Hidalgo County Judge

Rio Grande Guardian

By Joey Gomez and Steve Taylor

Photo: J.D. Salinas submitted his resignation as Hidalgo County Judge on Monday, effective immediately. (File photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

EDINBURG, Oct. 26 - Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas has handed in his resignation, effective immediately, according to a letter posted on the county’s Web site.

The letter, dated Oct. 26, was sent to County Clerk Arturo Guajardo by Salinas. Guajarado’s office has a date and time stamp on the letter of 1.33 p.m., Oct. 26.

The letter states:

Dear Mr. Guajardo,

I hereby resign as County Judge of Hidalgo County, effective immediately. As you know, I will soon assume the office of Regional Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration. I resign in anticipation of my induction into that office.

It has been my distinct honor to server the people of Hidalgo County first as their County Clerk and then as County Judge. I appreciate their support, and look forward to serving them in my new capacity as well.
Thank you.

Sincerely,
J.D. Salinas III.
CC: Commissioners Court

Salinas could not be reached for comment on Monday. Annette C. Muñiz, chief deputy with the County Clerk's office confirmed to the Guardian that Salinas tendered his resignation on Monday afternoon. Salinas will present his resignation at County Commissioner's Court on Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

An addendum agenda for Tuesday’s regular Commissioners Court meeting that has been posted on the County’s Web site has Salinas’ letter of resignation as an attachment. Click here to read the agenda. The agenda states that Commissioners Court will take up the matter of an interim county judge on Tuesday.

At a news conference on Friday, Salinas said he would stay on as county judge for a couple of weeks to ensure a smooth transition while a interim judge is selected.

Although Salinas has resigned, effective immediately, he will still be able to participate in the vote for an interim county judge. The law provides that the county judge, even after resigning, can vote on his/her successor. The vacancy, from a legal perspective, exists until the next person takes the oath.

There has been speculation that County Commissioners Joe Flores and Sylvia Handy would like to see former County Judge Ramon Garcia installed as interim county judge. Garcia has already announced he is running for county judge in next year’s elections. If elected, Garcia would take over the helm of the sixth largest county in Texas in January 2011.

There has been speculation that the other two County Commissioners, Tito Palacios and Oscar Garza, would like to see Rene Ramirez, chief of staff to state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, installed as interim county judge. With Salinas still able to cast a vote, Ramirez looks favorite to succeed him, albeit in a temporary capacity.

Former Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chair Bobby Guerra told the Guardian last week that he would be honored to serve as county judge for the interim.

Unconfirmed reports over the weekend had Palacios coming under pressure to go with Garcia as interim county judge. Palacios’ brother, Pharr Mayor Polo Palacios, has endorsed Garcia for county judge.

The White House announced Friday that Salinas would start as administrator for Region 7 at the GSA on Nov. 9. Region 7 covers the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. It is headquartered out of Fort Worth.

The General Services Administration is the federal agency that looks after federal property. According to the GSA’s Web site, the agency’s mission statement is to leverage the buying power of the federal government to acquire best value for taxpayers and its federal customers. “We exercise responsible asset management. We deliver superior workplaces, quality acquisition services, and expert business solutions. We develop innovative and effective management policies,” the statement says.

In the past, Hidalgo County Republican Party Chairman Hollis Rutledge has been a regional director of the GSA. Serving under the first President Bush, Rutledge looked after 11 states. He was senior executive services administrator and manager of GSA Region 7 for three and a half years.

Salinas is a graduate of La Joya High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Texas Pan American. Salinas was elected Hidalgo County Clerk in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. In 2004, he was Texas County Clerk of the Year by his peers. Before winning elected office, Salinas was chief South Texas liaison to former State Comptroller John Sharp.

The Texas Border Coalition issued a statement on Monday praising the Obama Administration for selecting Salinas as GSA administrator for Region 7.

Editor's Note: This story has been amended from the first edition to reflect new information about who might vote for interim county judge.