An interview about the growth of Elsa with the city's EDC leader, Daniel Rivera.

ELSA, Texas - It may be hard to believe when Elsa’s population is 5,680, but the city’s biggest store, Walmart, pulls in two million visits a year. This is the point Elsa Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Daniel Rivera wants potential investors to know.Rivera gave a powerpoint presentation on current and future plans for Elsa at a Rio Grande Valley Partnership Commercialization and Investment Tour. One of the projects that has been resurrected, Rivera said, is development of a new industrial park.“The first question I get from someone who hasn't been to Elsa, who does not know Elsa is, what's the population? That's the wrong question. The question is not what is the population. The population of Elsa, if you Google it, is 5,680,” Rivera said.“The real question is, what is your retail impact? What is the what's going on in Elsa. So this is a heat map of Walmart. This is where people travel to come to our Walmart. We have two million visits every 12 months. That doesn't happen with a population of 5,600.”Rivera said the Walmart heat map “paints a better picture” of what's happening in Elsa right now. Elsa is based in Hidalgo County but Rivera said the city’s catchment area spreads into the counties of Cameron and Willacy also.Rivera acknowledged that in comparison to McAllen, Edinburg or Mission, Elsa is a small town. “But this small town for the past few years has annexed over 100 acres of property. I think that's a testament to our growth. I think that's a testament to the amazing team here and everyone's working really hard to make the city a great city and a better place.”The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service interviewed Rivera after his presentation. He was asked what was the key message he wanted to get across to the realtors, bankers and land developers that were in the audience.“First, look in this direction. I know that a lot of people don't normally travel through here unless they have family but there's a lot of stuff happening and unless you kind of turn your attention towards what's happening over here you probably won’t be aware of it,” Rivera said. “And so, I am hoping that this message and the message of the growth that is happening here spreads across the Valley as these people go into their networks and their offices. This is not the Elsa people remember from 30 years ago.”Rivera was also asked about a project that would be a real game changer for not only Elsa but the entire Delta area: TxDOT’s plans to build another east-west corridor in the north of the Valley. Its project title is the I-69 Connector because it will connect I-69 Central with I-69 East.“We're already seeing some expansion out that way. Without these announcements, subdivisions are kind of popping up around that area. We have a lot of room to grow towards the north and I think the industrial park or the commercial park that we're trying to highlight is right along that corridor,” Rivera said.Here is the audio interview the Guardian secured with Rivera at the RGV Partnership event.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.