teclo garcia

MISSION, Texas - Teclo Garcia, the CEO of Mission Economic Development Corporation, has explained his group’s plans to market Anzalduas International Bridge within Mexico.

Mission is going to focus on cities further south than Monterrey, such as San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Aguascalientes.

The reason for this, Garcia said, is because Laredo and Monterrey are so closely aligned. 

At a commercialization and investment tour hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, Garcia said he and some of his team recently participated in a trade mission to San Luis Potosí.

“We chose San Luis because of the relationship that Laredo already has established with Monterey. I've met with Governor Garcia at least three times. I know his his right hand guy for national trade and his team and they're not unfriendly. I'm just saying that's just what they're doing; they’re using Laredo. So let's try to find something else,” Garcia said.

“San Luis is a little bit further south. But they know that Laredo is packed and they don't have any more space. They (Laredo) want to build another bridge, actually two more bridges, one on the south side, one on the north side. But that's going to take a decade to get done. 

“So what does San Luis and Querétaro and Aguascalientes and all those other cities supposed to do in the meantime? We can provide an alternative for them.”

Garcia pointed out that Anzalduas International Bridge will be able to take fully loaded trucks north and south bound in the not too distant future. 

“We're very focused on this as an effort going forward,” Garcia said, referring to the promotion of the bridge, which Mission co-owns with the cities of McAllen and Hidalgo. “This is something that the (Mission EDC) board (of directors) has directed us to do and it's exactly what we want to do.”


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MISSION, Texas - Mission Economic Development Corporation CEO Teclo Garcia will be attending the 19th Annual Mexico’s Near-Shoring and Auto Industry Summit in San Luis Potosí.

The event, hosted by Mexico Now, takes place July 20-21. Attendees will have the opportunity to visit the BMW manufacturing plant in SLP.

Garcia gave the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service an exclusive interview about the upcoming Mexico visit. He also spoke about the opportunities his city has to land a major manufacturing plant thanks to near-shoring, and the importance of fully developing the Anzalduas International Bridge.

Garcia said McAllen Economic Development Corporation leaders will also be attending Mexico Now's near-shoring and auto industry summit.

Here is the interview.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MCALLEN, Texas - New buildings for manufacturing and logistics are in short supply in the upper Rio Grande Valley, local economic development corporation leaders agree.

Keith Patridge, president of McAllen EDC, Raudel Garza, executive director of Edinburg EDC, and Teclo Garcia, CEO of Mission EDC discussed the lack of industrial space in their cities during a recent webinar. 

The webinar was hosted by the Greater McAllen Area Chapter of the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos. Francisco J. Peña-Valdés, president of AEM’s McAllen chapter, moderated the discussion.

Here is an audio recording of the part of the webinar that focused on industrial space.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MISSION, Texas - It was Tesla Time Saturday at the Center for Education and Economic Development in Mission, Texas.

Eighteen Tesla cars were on show at a tech expo hosted by Mission Economic Development Corporation. Some of the owners of the Tesla vehicles took some of the car show attendees out for a spin.

Teclo Garcia, CEO of Mission EDC explained: “We decided a few months ago that we wanted to put on something in the summer, an event that was kind of new to the market and something that no one had done before. There are plenty of car shows out there but we decided to do a Tesla-focused show. And one of the primary reasons we did it is, we want to be associated with that brand.”

Garcia said having Tesla at the CEED building was good fit. He said that ever since the facility was launched by Alex Meade and Daniel Silva it has been technology-based.

“We've had a lot of CompTIA and IT classes here. We've done all kinds of technology programs. And so as we got back, after COVID, and now we've got our (EDC) team in place, we wanted to start that back up. And so it was a natural for us to reach out to Tesla and say, hey, you haven't done a car show in South Texas that we know of. Would you be interested in they were absolutely interested.”

Garcia pointed out that Tesla does not consider themselves an auto manufacturer but rather a technology company. He said the three Rio Grande Valley zip codes with the most Tesla owners are 78504 in north McAllen, 78539, in south Edinburg, and 78572 in Mission.

“And so we thought, well, we’ve got plenty of (Tesla) owners, let's try to get something together. So it's our first try at it and we're very happy. We're also made it sort of a Tesla slash Tech Expo. We've got STC (South Texas College) here and other other tech programs. We’ve got some folks doing VR (virtual reality) as well and we've got the Trek Bicycle store here in Mission that has all their e-bike models.”

Garcia added: “This is just kind of a fun thing to do.”

In the attached audio interview, Garcia discusses the Tesla event, the presence of UT-Rio Grande Valley at the CEED building, and building broadband in Mission. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MISSION, Texas - Mission city leaders are expecting great things from NewQuest Properties’ development of the old Kmart building on the northeast corner of I-2 and Bryan Road.

The Houston-based company is bringing in Montana-based Murdoch's Ranch & Home as the main anchor. It’s the fourth store of its kind in Texas. There will also be a Burlington store. And negotiations are underway for a national restaurant chain to be located in the strip mall. The development is to be called Mission Gateway.

At a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for the development, Teclo Garcia, CEO of Mission Economic Development Corporation, stressed the importance of Anzalduas International Bridge, which is a straight shot south on Bryan Road.

“There's an old adage of business that everyone knows. It is location, location, location. This is a great location. Randy talked about it being close to the bridge. Well, the first four months of fiscal year 2022-2023, October, November, December, and January, we had a total about 450,000 cars go southbound from here. You can say pretty much for the most part, there was probably about 450,000 cars coming northbound at that same time, with two or three people in each car. Now we've got over a million people that are crossing and coming through here and going right by this development,” Garcia said.

The “Randy” Garcia spoke about was Randy Perez, Mission’s city manager.

Jay Sears, managing partner of NewQuest, also spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“You know, it is a great piece of real estate obviously. It is location, location, location. But it isn't just the real estate that makes real estate work. It is the community that is behind it, that supports it, that really makes a project. We come into a community and we try to build what will match the needs and aspirations of that community. That is our hope here,” Sears said.

The attached podcast contains the analysis of Jay Sears, managing partner of NewQuest, and Teclo Garcia, CEO of Mission Economic Development Corporation.

Editor's Note: To read the full story go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.