Author: pharr edc

Economic Times Newsletter – 4th Quarter 2017

We have been busy at the Pharr Economic Development Corporation since our last newsletter, welcoming many new businesses, celebrating groundbreakings, working with our international partners, and continuing to expand opportunities for our residents to enjoy a better quality of life—at home and around our great City of Pharr! Here at the Pharr EDC, we are on the trajectory of expansion, working closely with our community, regional partners, businesses, and future investors to continue to build this city! As always, we thank you for your support and business and we cannot wait to share the many new developments and projects we have been working on with you!

Economic Times Newsletter – October 2017

As the President & CEO of the Pharr Economic Development Corporation, I would like to thank you for your continued partnership, business, and investment in our great city. We have experienced tremendous growth over the years and in Pharr, your business is “our business”! At the Pharr EDC we work hard to ensure you have every tool to be successful and thriving in the market, that is why we are proud to announce the launch of our new Pharr EDC “Economic Times Newsletter” which will help keep you abreast of all current EDC projects and events occurring in the community and beyond. Our priority at the Pharr EDC is the success of our businesses and companies, continued growth of our city, quality of life of our residents, and capitalizing on our unique global marketplace. We hope this will serve as a useful resource in highlighting our regional, state, and international economic development projects!

Featured Business: Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen is a well known business that has been serving the Rio Grande valley for the past 20 years. Dairy Queen takes pride in our customer service and our goal is to serve our customer with honesty and integrity in all transactions.

Featured Business: Junction Cafe

Junction Cafe is a family owned Business that has been serving the Rio Grande valley for the past 15 years. Junction Cafe takes pride in our customer service and our goal is to serve our customer with honesty and integrity in all transactions.

Pharr Puts Public Safety First

The city of Pharr is dedicated to improving the overall quality of life for our citizens. This is why we, in collaboration with South Texas College (STC) and the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District (PSJA ISD), are working diligently to bring the highly anticipated Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence to fruition.

 

Pharr Hosts British Consul

Collaboration and innovation is at the heart of everything taking place in Pharr.

That was the message Pharr Mayor Dr. Ambrosio Hernandez wanted to convey to delegates from the United Kingdom earlier this week.

The City of Pharr welcomed British Consul General Karen Bell on Oct. 13. The consul was making a whirlwind trip through the region, and was especially enthusiastic about development taking place at the Pharr International Bridge.

The consul was the guest of honor at a breakfast organized by Pharr officials who used the time to brief her on the economic impact and infrastructure development currently taking place at the bridge.BritishCouncilKarenBellVisit-2

In attendance at the meeting was Mayor Hernandez, Mexican Consul based in McAllen Guillermo Ordorica Robles, Pharr EDC interim executive director Sergio Contreras, interim bridge director Luis Bazan, and Bridge Board chairman Edgar Delgadillo.

“You have a phenomenal scale of ambition in terms of your infrastructure plans. I’d be interested to hear how the financing for that works and whether there are opportunities for other international partners to come in an offer advice,” Bell said at the meeting with Pharr leaders. “We are ready to provide opportunities for growing trade in both directions using this partnership between Texas and Mexico.”

Appointed in July, Consul General Bell represents the UK in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. Based in Houston, Bell is spearheading a number of projects currently underway in her consulate including a trade mission to London this December for US financial technology companies, and an MOU signed between the UK Satellite Applications Catapult and Houston Airport System, marking the UK as the first international partner for Houston’s commercial spaceport.

Her visit to the Valley was a mission to gauge the area’s economic growth and educational impact in communities. In Pharr, Bell was made aware that the city’s bridge is currently the number one Port of Entry for produce in the United States.

BritishCouncilKarenBellVisit-1“This is part of the reason that we wanted to see what is happening here on the ground. Certainly, the scale at which you are growing has redoubled my enthusiasm for the understanding that we can and should be doing more to promote UK participation,” Bell said. “Whether it’s getting traffic across the bridge, whether it’s in terms of helping you to think about financing if that’s an issue because public-private partnerships is something that we have developed quite an expertise for. If there is something more we can be doing in terms of the planning and development of the project as you move ahead, doubling the capacity of the bridge is an enormous engineering feat apart from everything else.”

Pharr International Bridge crosses about 60 percent of all fresh produce coming into the U.S. from Mexico. In 2014 alone, Pharr accommodated $30 billion worth of trade with the world and 2015 looks to top that figure. The bridge is conducting a new study for 2016, and officials at the bridge say that number will climb to possibly $37 billion, which is record-breaking growth, according to Pharr leaders.

“At the heart of everything is collaboration and innovation,” said mayor Hernandez in his remarks to the Consul. “You can see it here. It has worked wonderfully with the government of Mexico. We are happy to have you here, and wanted to make sure you saw first-hand, the growth that is going to occur in this area. We have a wonderful partner to the south of us. On behalf of the mayor’s office, we are very glad to have you here today.”

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