Business View Magazine | July 2019

352 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 redevelopment. We’ve invested over $55 million in the past five years in improving public spaces; making it safer, more attractive, putting in downtown cameras. We also have programs aimed at incentivizing façade improvement, restoration of downtown buildings, and creating historic tax credits for the private sector to invest. We also built some anchor facilities out there, including a performing arts building, an open market square area; the old terminal building was redeveloped, so from a community development standpoint those are the major highlights.” The city recently purchased a 36,000-sq.-ft. facility to create a small business incubator and is working in partnership with the Economic Development Administration to facilitate entrepreneurship and the innovation economy within the downtown area. That, combined with construction of a parking garage and location of the new transit terminal in the core, has led to renewed interest in private investment downtown. Bernal expresses the city’s gratitude to the federal government, BCIC, and the Brownsville Public Utilities Board. The BPUB have been major partners in helping install fiber downtown and fixing aging infrastructure to support all the investment. The city has also partnered with the Army Corps of Engineers to preserve the resacas by dredging and removing the trash and sediment. Why come to Brownsville? Lopez explains, “People are looking for the amenities, the culture, the sustainability of a city, first - what there is to enjoy. And then they find the job, after the fact. We have it all. We are a nice community and proud of our culture, but we are also ready to embrace the space frontier and new technology that’s coming here to south Texas.” Looking to the future, Bernal states, “Top of the list is growth. The success for Brownsville depends on leveraging our assets and growing in a sustainable way that allows us to reinvest and improve our bottom line. Our people are an asset; where community is like a family, we are a healthy family. Brownsville has untapped potential for investment and business development. The city is defining a vision for success founded on the ability to harness its assets. Outsiders need to know they can come here and be abundantly successful.” PREFERRED VENDOR n Vulcan Materials Company www.vulcanmaterials.com