NewsTalk Texas

LAREDO - Laredo ISD broke ground on a $70 million construction project to revamp Nixon High School and build a new Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts.

The $45 million Nixon redesign project will give the nearly 50-year-old, 211,150-sf campus a facelift, mostly consolidating its sprawled out buildings into one U-shaped complex centered on a courtyard.

Across the street, the Vidal M. Treviño school, often called simply VMT, will move from its 820 Main St. location downtown to neighbor the district’s largest high school. The $24 million, 164,413-sf VMT new campus should receive students in fall 2015.

Total campus square footage of the projects is 369,563 sf.

Read more at the Laredo Morning Times.

Listen to Podcast 171 for this story...and more!

LAREDO - The Laredo International Airport recorded a passenger decrease during the first two months of operation in 2013.

During the months of January and February, the airport recorded departures of 13,040 passengers compared with 13,724 passengers in the first two months of 2012, a 4.9 percent reduction. The airport recorded arrivals of 12,960 compared with 13,725 in 2012, a 5.5 percent reduction.

In January this year there were 6,914 users compared to the 7,037 of the previous year a decrease of 1.75 percent, while in February there were 6,126 users compared to the 6,687 of the previous year an 8.3 percent reduction.

In arrivals there were 7,057 passengers in January against the 7,218 in 2012 a decrease of 2.2 percent. In February, there were 5,903 customers compared with 6,687 in February 2012 a decrease of 9.2 percent.

Read more at The Laredo Sun.

LAREDO - HOLT CAT, the Caterpillar Equipment and Engine dealer for South, Central, North and North East Texas, has opened a new 24,000-sf LEED gold certified facility. Value of construction only was $5 million.

The new facility is located in the Las Lomas Industrial Park on State Highway 359.

In addition, the Laredo Community College received a grant check for $4,000 from HOLT CAT and the Caterpillar Dealer Excellence Fund for professional and technical skills training.

Read more at Construction Equipment Guide.

Listen to Podcast 165 for this story...and more!

WEBB COUNTY - The University of Texas at San Antonio’s(UTSA) latest study on the economic impact of the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas play shows a 20-county area, including Webb, generated about $61 billion in economic impact in 2012 and about 116,000 jobs.

In 2011, the economic impact was about $25.5 billion. At that time, 88 active oil and gas wells were in Webb County. In total, county governments impacted by the lucrative fracking industry earned about $1 billion from the oil and gas industry last year.

The study estimates continued growth, with the industry’s economic impact increasing from about $61 billion to almost $90 billion by 2022.

UTSA’s Institute for Economic Development more closely examined the 14 most active counties: Atascosa, Bee, DeWitt, Dimmit, Frio, Gonzalez, Karnes, La Salle, Live Oak, Maverick, McMullen, Webb, Wilson and Zavala.

Other industries are also expected to flourish there in ten years’ time.

An estimated 6,000 workers will provide repair and construction for structures needed to support the industry at that time, the study modestly predicts. The fifth largest industry in those counties is expected to be the food service industry, employing about 4,000 people.

The study also notes Webb County maintained a constant 75 percent occupancy rate at hotels in 2012. Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau data shows the more dramatic surge in hotel occupancy rates began in about 2009 after a sharp decline.

Read more at the Laredo Morning Times.

LAREDO - The Laredo Development Foundation has released building permit data for Jan.-Dec. 2012.

Source: City of Laredo

LAREDO - The Laredo Development Foundation has released building permit data for January 2013.

Source: Laredo Development Foundation

LAREDO - The cargo report for Laredo International Airport has been released through December 2012.

Source: Laredo International Airport

LAREDO - The enplanement and deplanement statistics for Laredo International Airport have been released through December 2012.

Source: Laredo International Airport

LAREDO - With Laredo's prime location on the U.S./Mexico border, access to Interstate 35, and both Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern rail lines, international trade is the city's major industry.

The City of Laredo’s economic conditions support growth, according to Timothy Franciscus-Timm, marketing manager for the City of Laredo.

With all of the trade comes a need for warehousing on the U.S. side and manufacturing facilities on the Mexican side. The industrial vacancy rate is 2.5 percent, with a market size of 35 million sf, according to Carlo Molano of Best/White Real Estate.

With the city’s proximity to the Eagle Ford Shale Play, the City of Laredo built 200 residential lots in 2012, and will build 200 to 300 more in 2013, according to Pat Murphy, vice president of San Isidro Management.

In 2010, the apartment occupancy rate was 96.2 percent. In 2011, apartment occupancy still held strong at 96 percent, even with a 3.5 percent increase in average rent.

Read more at REBusinessOnline.com.

Listen to Podcast 160 for this story...and more!

LAREDO - Texas A&M International University’s A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business is staking its claim on the future by supplementing its degree programs with online programs with wide appeal for both local and global graduate students.

The school will offer online MBA programs with an International Business concentration in English and Spanish, according to Stephen Sears, the business school’s dean.

The online Spanish MBA will take the place of the current on-site program, which will be phased out after spring 2013. The online English MBA supplements the on-site English MBA program, which continues.

Read more at the Laredo Morning Times.

LAREDO - The City of Laredo has entered into an economic development grant agreement, which includes about $90,000 in tax incentives, with Select Energy Services who in turn pledged to the city a $6 million capital investment as they expand to a new site on Mines Rd.

The agreement will bring more than 100 middle-class jobs to the city. Select’s contract with the city stipulates it must retain within the city at least 149 jobs until 2018.

Most of the new positions will not require a college degree or vocational training and boast an average salary of $40,000 plus benefits, according to Barry Gilpin, Select Southwest Texas regional operations manager.

The Select expansion will provide oilfield services to sites in Webb, Zapata, La Salle, Dimmit, Maverick and Frio.

Read more at the Laredo Morning Times.

LAREDO - The October 2012 unemployment rate for Laredo fell to 6.3 percent from 6.4 percent in September, one of the lowest figures in 2012, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

In 30 days, 300 jobs were created registering 100 fewer unemployed persons in the city.

The Eagle Ford Shale industry is generating more jobs in this area, which helps to lower unemployment, according to Raul Salinas, the city’s mayor.

For more on workforce data, see the Texas Workforce Commission.

Read more at the Laredo Sun.

LAREDO - The U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be expanding the Centers of Excellence and Expertise, which will create six new centers in 2013, including one in Laredo.

The virtual centers will provide one-stop processing to lower the trade’s cost of business, provide greater consistency and predictability and enhance CBP enforcement efforts.

The centers are for the agriculture and prepared products; apparel, footwear and textiles; base metals; consumer products and mass merchandising; industrial and manufacturing materials and machinery industries.

The center to be established in Laredo will be for machinery industries.

Read more at the Laredo Morning Times.

LAREDO - Con Way — a leading transport company in the domestic and international markets — will sign an agreement with the city to build offices in Laredo and create 50 new jobs in exchange for tax incentives.

The company will locate in a large building in the area of Mines Rd. The project should be completed in two years and will create 50 new jobs.

Con Way agreed to invest approximately $4.4 million in the construction of its new operating offices in Laredo and in return will receive nearly $33,000 in reimbursement for various municipal permits.

They will receive a waiver of $30,755 in property taxes over a period of five years when they comply with the commitments made, especially the creation of 50 full-time jobs.

Read more at the The Laredo Sun.

LAREDO - Construction has begun on expanding US 83 north. The $14.8 million project will cover US 83 north from I-35 to the town of Asherton.

In total, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will build nine passing lanes, known as super lanes 2, six of which will be within the territory of Webb and Dimmit County, two more will be south of Catarina and one of the structures will be between Catarina and Asherton, which will help alleviate traffic in both directions.

The project is expected to be complete by March 2014, according to the TxDOT.

Read more at the Laredo Sun.

LAREDO - Educational attainment data for 2012 and a projection for 2017 are available for Laredo at Texas Site Search.

For more, go to Texas Site Search and click on Community Profiles.

LAREDO - Total number of housing data for 2012 and projections for 2017 are available for Laredo at Texas Site Search. In addition, community details are available as shown below.

For demographics, spending and more see Texas Site Search and click on Community Profiles.

LAREDO - Household income distribution data for 2012 and a projection for 2017 are available for Laredo at Texas Site Search.

Source: Texas Site Search

LAREDO - La Terraza, an affordable housing community located in South Laredo, officially opened its gates. The complex features 128 one-to-four-bedroom units, a clubhouse, a resort-style pool and a classroom for after-school programs. The complex has already reached 98 percent prelease capacity.

The $17 million project was completed in under a year and is the fruit of a partnership among the city’s Laredo Public Facilities Corporation, Ejido Holdings and NRP Group. The city used federal grant money to fund the project while NRP secured $16 million in private investments.

NRP group has partnered with local organizations to provide after-school programs where students are assisted with homework.

See 'New units filling up fast in South Laredo' from NewsTalk Texas.

Read more at the Laredo Morning Times.

LAREDO - The enplanement and deplanement statistics and cargo report for Laredo International Airport have been released through September 2012.

Source: Laredo International Airport