|
Only have a minute? Listen instead |
Brownsville Mayor John Cowen Jr. delivered his second State of the City address to a near-capacity audience at the Texas Southmost College Performing Arts Center on Wednesday.
The tone was upbeat and bullish on Brownsville, Cowen citing a long list of achievements and trends that he said have helped make the city “an economic driver for the Rio Grande Valley, the state of Texas and the nation.”
With a population of nearly 200,000, Brownsville is the largest city in the Valley, while the Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area has the fastest job growth in Texas, he said.
That’s due in large part to SpaceX, which Cowen described as a “transformative force” for the city, having created more than 3,400 direct and 21,000 indirect jobs while investing $3.2 billion at Boca Chica since 2014.
He also cited NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project at the Port of Brownsville, an $18.4 billion investment construction of which is currently employing more than 2,000 people, with another 6,000 or so jobs on the horizon.
According to one of the video presentations interspersed with Cowen’s comments, Brownsville has experienced a 6.7% increase in “inter-generational mobility,” the highest income growth for low-income areas in the nation; a 5.4% increase in employment; and an 18.8% increase in private sector wages — all thanks to new jobs in aerospace and energy but also manufacturing, health care and tourism.
S&P Global Rating bumped the city’s credit rating from “AA” to “AA+” (outlook stable) early this year on the strength of Brownsville’s vigorous growth, status as a regional trade center and “robust financial profile supported by well-embedded management practices,” according to S&P.
Cowen noted that the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas recently reported “robust growth in employment opportunities” for the city, of 4.2% in the third quarter of 2024.
“Brownsville’s making history and the nation is taking notice. … Our city’s now the number metro in the U.S. for investment,” he said. “It is recognized as an emerging economic hot spot.”
At $300 million, Brownsville’s latest five-year capital improvement plan (CIP) is the biggest in its history, Cowen said. The plan includes $13 million for reconstruction of Old Highway 77 as well as $28.3 million for road maintenance drainage projects, plus another $5 million for six hybrid B Metro buses and 32 solar-powered bus shelters.
Cowen said the CIP will make Brownsville “safer, more efficient and more connected,” noting that the city’s Omni/Lit Fiber high-speed, fiber-optic internet network is being rolled out, has more than 1,300 customers signed up and 1,800 more on the waiting list.
The Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, one of the city’s two economic development organizations, is playing a crucial role in the city’s growing success, he said, with GBIC investing in and leading development of the 90-acre Brownsville Tech Industrial Park, an $11 million project that will bring in as many as 15 new companies.
Phase one of the project will break ground this spring, while phase two will get underway later this year, which will add another 100 acres, Cowen said, adding that the park will address current and future needs of industrial companies interested in locating operations in Brownsville. A state-of-the-art, 100,000-square-foot public safety complex will be built at the park on 55 acres at a cost of $70 million, he said.
Another major project GBIC will soon announce involves a “tier-one supplier for SpaceX that will be setting up shop in our city,” Cowen said. The company, which he called a “global leader in the energy sector,” will bring more than $100 million in initial investment with the potential for $150 million, and create more than 90 high paying, skilled jobs, he said.
GBIC is investing $1.3 million in job training incentives and grants to ensure the workforce is in place, Cowen said.
“Over the next six months we expect GBIC to announce three major additional projects totaling $300 million in capital investment,” he said. “This will bring over 500 new jobs into the industrial park.”
Cowen noted that the “Port of Brownsville is working overtime” in contributing to the region’s economic growth, supporting directly and indirectly more than 10,000 jobs in the Valley, and 66,000 jobs across the state, with a $1.1 billion annual impact on the local economy.
The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, the city’s other economic arm, is also “making strides in advancing the local economy,” he said, noting that BCIC secured a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to enhance BCIC’s Startup Texas accelerator project, which supports local entrepreneurs and attracts new businesses.
BCIC is also integral in the forthcoming “Downtown Renaissance Master Plan,” which will be the map for further revitalization and preservation of the city’s historic downtown, Cowen said.
In addition to promoting culture, art, music and culinary experiences downtown, the plan will include enhancements to downtown infrastructure, he said, adding that all of it will “lay the groundwork for businesses to thrive and residents to live.”