McAllen EDC Vice President Ralph Garcia makes his pitch to visiting site selectors

MCALLEN, Texas - Ralph Garcia, vice president of international business recruitment for McAllen Economic Development Corporation, has spoken about new industrial space being created on the north side of his city. “As we continue to grow as a community, one of the challenges that we have on the south side, being close to the border, is availability of real estate. And so the City took the initiative on the north side,” Garcia explained. “They purchased a 1,200-acre site along with the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone. The FTZ purchased an additional 211 acres and it's right between an airport and an old military base.” Moore Air Base is an inactive U.S. Air Force facility that was sold to private concerns and partially transferred to the Department of Agriculture. “That airport is still used, so that's a site that we're promoting for new development, new projects,” Garcia said. Garcia made his comments in an in-depth presentation to site selectors who were brought down to the Rio Grande Valley by the Council for South Texas Economic Progress. The event was held at the Forum by Regency in Pharr. “We're currently working on a project for a high-tech facility that's being quoted out to several different construction companies in our area. It's about us $50 million or $60 million project we're excited about. We hope to get something going here pretty soon,” Garcia said. Garcia also spoke about the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone. He said it was established in 1968 and covers 800,000 square feet. “The Foreign Trade Zone really was our community trying to establish a base for industrial developments. The Foreign Trade Zone still caters to a lot of our industry. If you're bringing in raw materials from other parts of the world and you want to bring it into an FTZ without having to pay duties or taxes you can still do that,” Garcia said. Some of the revenue the McAllen FTZ generates goes to McAllen EDC, Garcia explained. “Some of that we get to spend an economic development which is quite unique. It helps fund a lot of the things that we do.”Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service to read the full story.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.