Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
March sales best since recession started
March sales best since recession started
STC - Shopping Centers Today Newsletter
ICSC
Following several months of modest gains, March brought the most promising retail results since the recession began. Same-stores sales rose 9 percent over last March, the strongest month-on-month increase since March 1999, according to ICSC’s index.
Sales rose in all categories, with the luxury segment leading the parade. The luxury sector overall climbed 14.2 percent, with apparel stores gaining 12.8 percent. Discounters enjoyed a 10.7 percent rise and wholesale clubs (excluding fuel sales) rose 3.5 percent.
Women’s fashion retailer Cato was especially strong: up 24.2 percent over last March, and Kohl’s did nearly as well, with a 22.5 percent increase. Drugstores edged up 1.7 percent.
The apparel stars included Limited (up 15 percent), Ross Stores (14 percent) and Gap (11 percent). Among the department stores, Nordstrom did particularly well, with a 16.9 percent showing, followed by Dillard’s (up 9 percent) and JCPenney (5.4 percent). Discount chain TJX saw sales leap 12 percent, and Target rose 10.3 percent.
The weather was a factor, with March 2010 being the warmest and driest in three years, according to Weather Trends International.
“March sales posted a healthy, albeit inflated, increase,” said Michael P. Niemira, ICSC’s chief economist and director of research. “The earlier Easter — April 4, 2010 versus April 12, 2009 — was a boon to March sales, worth an estimated 4 to 5 percentage points in terms of year-over-year growth. While this calendar shift certainly helped to aggrandize sales, the month’s performance was still very strong, aided in part by seasonally warm weather compared with March of last year.”
ICSC anticipates that April’s year-on-year sales will be flat to negative 3 percent.
Malls at top of life insurers’ shopping lists again
Life insurers will be out shopping in force this year, and retail centers are among the biggest items on their purchasing lists. “We like retail,” said Rick Coppola, head of commercial mortgage investments at TIAA-CREF, whose retail portfolio now stands at $6.5 billion. The firm is looking at major regional malls and grocery-anchored neighborhood shopping centers, Coppola says.
The sentiment is much the same at Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., the real estate investment subsidiary of Prudential Financial. The firm has been looking to finance regional malls and portfolios of cross-collateralized neighborhood shopping centers since last year. “You can do these in fairly large chunks,” said David Twardock, the subsidiary’s president. “Frankly, we were underweighted in malls going into this cycle, because the commercial-mortgage-backed-securities market pushed insurers out of that space, and this was an opportunity get back in and put some high-quality malls on the books.” Prudential Mortgage Capital says it seeks dominant malls with sales figures in excess of $400 per square foot and grocery-anchored shopping centers.
Insurers had the market to themselves through the first six months of last year, but then the equity markets began easing and the competition for REIT deals picked up considerably. “We had some success early last year with the REIT borrowers,” said Rob Little, chief investment officer of Hartford, Conn.–based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, real estate investment arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance. “Then, as the equity markets opened up, the REITs were able to get business elsewhere.” Cornerstone made only a couple of retail center purchases last year but says it is looking for more retail deals this year. “We like the neighborhood shopping centers with consumer-staple stores,” Little said.
“We like regional malls, and we are focused on the top 50 or 75 regional malls in the country,” said Tony Premer, a senior managing director with Pacific Life Insurance Co., Newport Beach, Calif. “These high-quality mall assets will typically be supported by top-notch sponsorship and align nicely with our reputation as a lender that targets loans in excess of $50 million.”
Good times for outlets
Today’s culture of value is having no small effect on outlet centers. Shoppers and retailers that never set foot inside an outlet mall before are doing so now, and faster than one can say “30 percent off.”
Just a decade or so ago, consumers equated outlet malls with a trip to the hinterlands for a hit-or-miss treasure hunt. Today outlets are being built in or near metro areas instead of en route to them, and more full-price retailers and brands are tailoring products to fit into outlet centers, both in the U.S. and abroad.
One of the latest to come to the party is Bloomingdale’s, which announced that it would open four U.S. outlet stores by this fall and still others next year and beyond.
“With growth on the minds of retailers once again, an outlet concept has to be part of the conversation these days,” said Charles Wetzel, president and COO of Fort Worth, Texas–based Buxton, a customer analytics consultant firm. “If you’re not looking at how an outlet store can positively affect your network, you’re not going to be able to effectively optimize your market.”
No surprise, then, that Simon Property Group has paid so much attention to the outlet format. Its purchase of Chelsea Property Group (now Premium Outlets) in 2004, its acquisition of the value-oriented Mills Corp. in 2007 and its pending acquisition of Prime Outlets this spring all provide a buffer against ever-changing consumer spending patterns. Simon’s Premium Outlets properties are outperforming its regional mall portfolio in both occupancy (97.9 percent versus 92.1 percent) and sales per square foot ($500 versus $433). And its Cincinnati Premium Outlets, which opened in August, was one of the few U.S. shopping centers to open last year.
“National retailers are going to continue to look at ways they can diversify their offerings,” said Gregg Goodman, Mills’ president. “The full-price retailers are finding [outlets] to be almost a hedge against economic uncertainty.”
The past few years have seen a gaggle of mainstream retailers go outlet. In February Catherines Plus Sizes said it would open 33 stores at U.S. outlet centers. Lord & Taylor opened its first outlet store that same month, at Jersey Gardens, in Elizabeth, N.J. Talbots opened its first outlet last year and says it sees potential to open as many as 100 more. Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, in Central Valley, N.Y., attracted such newly created outlets as Balenciaga, John Varvatos and Lululemon Athletica, says Michele Rothstein, senior vice president of marketing at Premium Outlets.
Recent openings of brand stores in the Premium Outlet portfolio also include Façonnable, at Jersey Shore Premium Outlets; Marni, at Orlando Premium Outlets; RocketDog, at Camarillo Premium Outlets; and Vera Bradley, at Chicago Premium Outlets.
Over the past three years, outlet store openings of many major retail chains have outnumbered the openings of full-price stores, says Steven Greenberg, head of The Greenberg Group, a real estate advisory firm that has helped several chains and brands develop outlet strategies. The old industry buzzword “sensitivity,” which full-price retailers once used with reference to the potential for a nearby outlet store to cannibalize their sales, “has completely evaporated from industry language,” said Greenberg. “I haven’t heard it in years.”
Five years ago Greenberg’s data showed that 65 percent of shoppers patronized regional malls, 25 percent used outlet centers, and only 10 percent crossed between the two. Today the figures are about 45 percent regional to 35 percent outlet, with a 20 percent crossover.
Texting teens still socialize at malls
That great American teen tradition of hanging out at the mall has taken a backseat to cyber-haunting on Facebook and other social-networking Web sites. So claimed Hot Topic CEO Betsey McLaughlin, at a forum in January. “The place for [teens] to hang out today is the Internet,” McLaughlin said.
Not everyone agrees, however. Chicago-based TRU, a market research firm that studies young people, says the percentage of teens in its surveys who report spending time at malls during any given week stayed fairly consistent between 1996 and 2007. In 2008 TRU stopped inquiring about mall visits specifically, and began asking whether they had gone “shopping for fun” — online or in person — during the week. Last fall 83 percent of respondents said they had, about the same number as the previous fall.
Moreover, teen spending is on the rise again, up 6 to 8 percent year on year, according to NPD Group, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch can attest to that, having ended a 20-month streak of falling sales in January with a same-store sales increase of 8 percent.
Mall owners and marketing officials are well aware of the love affair teens have with the Internet. But rather than perceiving Facebook, Twitter and the like as competition, many are using the Internet as a tool to drive traffic to their properties. They are using these sites in a variety of ways, from tweets about sales, special events or new merchandise, to video postings on the latest prom fashions.
“There is a ton of research that has found that teens really live online, and that’s where we are trying to reach them,” said Bridget Jewell, a public relations coordinator at Mall of America. Jewell says Mall of America boasts the largest lineup of teen-oriented retailers of any mall in the country — 75 of them.
Three Macerich-owned malls in the Los Angeles area — Lakewood Center, Los Cerritos Center and Stonewood Center — are promoting themselves on Facebook through a campaign titled Teen Life of Style. The malls created a Facebook fan page as a resource for their teen shoppers. Among other things, the page provides a forum on which a panel of teen-age “experts” discusses fashion, music, shopping and their favorite retailers. “Ultimately, teens really do want to get to the mall, but they just want to be better prepared,” said Heather Stratz, assistant vice president of digital marketing at Macerich.
Even given teens’ fascination with the Internet, they will always be drawn to malls, experts say, because of their desire for face-to-face contact with peers outside a school setting. Teen-agers are excluded from such social venues as bars and nightclubs, of course, but malls are uniquely positioned to be an alternative.
High-school-age girls will forever be loath to pass up the chance to meet their friends at the mall, says Jennifer Black, who heads her own retail research firm in Lake Oswego, Ore. Said Black, “I can’t imagine that on Saturdays and Sundays, girls are going to stay home in front of their computers.”
STC - Shopping Centers Today Newsletter
ICSC
Following several months of modest gains, March brought the most promising retail results since the recession began. Same-stores sales rose 9 percent over last March, the strongest month-on-month increase since March 1999, according to ICSC’s index.
Sales rose in all categories, with the luxury segment leading the parade. The luxury sector overall climbed 14.2 percent, with apparel stores gaining 12.8 percent. Discounters enjoyed a 10.7 percent rise and wholesale clubs (excluding fuel sales) rose 3.5 percent.
Women’s fashion retailer Cato was especially strong: up 24.2 percent over last March, and Kohl’s did nearly as well, with a 22.5 percent increase. Drugstores edged up 1.7 percent.
The apparel stars included Limited (up 15 percent), Ross Stores (14 percent) and Gap (11 percent). Among the department stores, Nordstrom did particularly well, with a 16.9 percent showing, followed by Dillard’s (up 9 percent) and JCPenney (5.4 percent). Discount chain TJX saw sales leap 12 percent, and Target rose 10.3 percent.
The weather was a factor, with March 2010 being the warmest and driest in three years, according to Weather Trends International.
“March sales posted a healthy, albeit inflated, increase,” said Michael P. Niemira, ICSC’s chief economist and director of research. “The earlier Easter — April 4, 2010 versus April 12, 2009 — was a boon to March sales, worth an estimated 4 to 5 percentage points in terms of year-over-year growth. While this calendar shift certainly helped to aggrandize sales, the month’s performance was still very strong, aided in part by seasonally warm weather compared with March of last year.”
ICSC anticipates that April’s year-on-year sales will be flat to negative 3 percent.
Malls at top of life insurers’ shopping lists again
Life insurers will be out shopping in force this year, and retail centers are among the biggest items on their purchasing lists. “We like retail,” said Rick Coppola, head of commercial mortgage investments at TIAA-CREF, whose retail portfolio now stands at $6.5 billion. The firm is looking at major regional malls and grocery-anchored neighborhood shopping centers, Coppola says.
The sentiment is much the same at Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., the real estate investment subsidiary of Prudential Financial. The firm has been looking to finance regional malls and portfolios of cross-collateralized neighborhood shopping centers since last year. “You can do these in fairly large chunks,” said David Twardock, the subsidiary’s president. “Frankly, we were underweighted in malls going into this cycle, because the commercial-mortgage-backed-securities market pushed insurers out of that space, and this was an opportunity get back in and put some high-quality malls on the books.” Prudential Mortgage Capital says it seeks dominant malls with sales figures in excess of $400 per square foot and grocery-anchored shopping centers.
Insurers had the market to themselves through the first six months of last year, but then the equity markets began easing and the competition for REIT deals picked up considerably. “We had some success early last year with the REIT borrowers,” said Rob Little, chief investment officer of Hartford, Conn.–based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, real estate investment arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance. “Then, as the equity markets opened up, the REITs were able to get business elsewhere.” Cornerstone made only a couple of retail center purchases last year but says it is looking for more retail deals this year. “We like the neighborhood shopping centers with consumer-staple stores,” Little said.
“We like regional malls, and we are focused on the top 50 or 75 regional malls in the country,” said Tony Premer, a senior managing director with Pacific Life Insurance Co., Newport Beach, Calif. “These high-quality mall assets will typically be supported by top-notch sponsorship and align nicely with our reputation as a lender that targets loans in excess of $50 million.”
Good times for outlets
Today’s culture of value is having no small effect on outlet centers. Shoppers and retailers that never set foot inside an outlet mall before are doing so now, and faster than one can say “30 percent off.”
Just a decade or so ago, consumers equated outlet malls with a trip to the hinterlands for a hit-or-miss treasure hunt. Today outlets are being built in or near metro areas instead of en route to them, and more full-price retailers and brands are tailoring products to fit into outlet centers, both in the U.S. and abroad.
One of the latest to come to the party is Bloomingdale’s, which announced that it would open four U.S. outlet stores by this fall and still others next year and beyond.
“With growth on the minds of retailers once again, an outlet concept has to be part of the conversation these days,” said Charles Wetzel, president and COO of Fort Worth, Texas–based Buxton, a customer analytics consultant firm. “If you’re not looking at how an outlet store can positively affect your network, you’re not going to be able to effectively optimize your market.”
No surprise, then, that Simon Property Group has paid so much attention to the outlet format. Its purchase of Chelsea Property Group (now Premium Outlets) in 2004, its acquisition of the value-oriented Mills Corp. in 2007 and its pending acquisition of Prime Outlets this spring all provide a buffer against ever-changing consumer spending patterns. Simon’s Premium Outlets properties are outperforming its regional mall portfolio in both occupancy (97.9 percent versus 92.1 percent) and sales per square foot ($500 versus $433). And its Cincinnati Premium Outlets, which opened in August, was one of the few U.S. shopping centers to open last year.
“National retailers are going to continue to look at ways they can diversify their offerings,” said Gregg Goodman, Mills’ president. “The full-price retailers are finding [outlets] to be almost a hedge against economic uncertainty.”
The past few years have seen a gaggle of mainstream retailers go outlet. In February Catherines Plus Sizes said it would open 33 stores at U.S. outlet centers. Lord & Taylor opened its first outlet store that same month, at Jersey Gardens, in Elizabeth, N.J. Talbots opened its first outlet last year and says it sees potential to open as many as 100 more. Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, in Central Valley, N.Y., attracted such newly created outlets as Balenciaga, John Varvatos and Lululemon Athletica, says Michele Rothstein, senior vice president of marketing at Premium Outlets.
Recent openings of brand stores in the Premium Outlet portfolio also include Façonnable, at Jersey Shore Premium Outlets; Marni, at Orlando Premium Outlets; RocketDog, at Camarillo Premium Outlets; and Vera Bradley, at Chicago Premium Outlets.
Over the past three years, outlet store openings of many major retail chains have outnumbered the openings of full-price stores, says Steven Greenberg, head of The Greenberg Group, a real estate advisory firm that has helped several chains and brands develop outlet strategies. The old industry buzzword “sensitivity,” which full-price retailers once used with reference to the potential for a nearby outlet store to cannibalize their sales, “has completely evaporated from industry language,” said Greenberg. “I haven’t heard it in years.”
Five years ago Greenberg’s data showed that 65 percent of shoppers patronized regional malls, 25 percent used outlet centers, and only 10 percent crossed between the two. Today the figures are about 45 percent regional to 35 percent outlet, with a 20 percent crossover.
Texting teens still socialize at malls
That great American teen tradition of hanging out at the mall has taken a backseat to cyber-haunting on Facebook and other social-networking Web sites. So claimed Hot Topic CEO Betsey McLaughlin, at a forum in January. “The place for [teens] to hang out today is the Internet,” McLaughlin said.
Not everyone agrees, however. Chicago-based TRU, a market research firm that studies young people, says the percentage of teens in its surveys who report spending time at malls during any given week stayed fairly consistent between 1996 and 2007. In 2008 TRU stopped inquiring about mall visits specifically, and began asking whether they had gone “shopping for fun” — online or in person — during the week. Last fall 83 percent of respondents said they had, about the same number as the previous fall.
Moreover, teen spending is on the rise again, up 6 to 8 percent year on year, according to NPD Group, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch can attest to that, having ended a 20-month streak of falling sales in January with a same-store sales increase of 8 percent.
Mall owners and marketing officials are well aware of the love affair teens have with the Internet. But rather than perceiving Facebook, Twitter and the like as competition, many are using the Internet as a tool to drive traffic to their properties. They are using these sites in a variety of ways, from tweets about sales, special events or new merchandise, to video postings on the latest prom fashions.
“There is a ton of research that has found that teens really live online, and that’s where we are trying to reach them,” said Bridget Jewell, a public relations coordinator at Mall of America. Jewell says Mall of America boasts the largest lineup of teen-oriented retailers of any mall in the country — 75 of them.
Three Macerich-owned malls in the Los Angeles area — Lakewood Center, Los Cerritos Center and Stonewood Center — are promoting themselves on Facebook through a campaign titled Teen Life of Style. The malls created a Facebook fan page as a resource for their teen shoppers. Among other things, the page provides a forum on which a panel of teen-age “experts” discusses fashion, music, shopping and their favorite retailers. “Ultimately, teens really do want to get to the mall, but they just want to be better prepared,” said Heather Stratz, assistant vice president of digital marketing at Macerich.
Even given teens’ fascination with the Internet, they will always be drawn to malls, experts say, because of their desire for face-to-face contact with peers outside a school setting. Teen-agers are excluded from such social venues as bars and nightclubs, of course, but malls are uniquely positioned to be an alternative.
High-school-age girls will forever be loath to pass up the chance to meet their friends at the mall, says Jennifer Black, who heads her own retail research firm in Lake Oswego, Ore. Said Black, “I can’t imagine that on Saturdays and Sundays, girls are going to stay home in front of their computers.”
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The road to expansion in Brownsville
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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Wednesday, April 7, 2010
NAI RGV's Mike Blum speaks 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. ...
Click here to read more
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. ...
Click here to read more
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
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
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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
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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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...
Read more
Perryman: McAllen Has Been a Great Place to Weather the Recession
Perryman: McAllen Has Been a Great Place to Weather the Recession
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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Thursday, March 25, 2010
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...
Click here to read 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...
Click here to read more
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