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NEWS

Billion Dollar Project Underway for the City

Laredo’s trade industry is on track to grow even larger now that city council has agreed to move forward with an industrial development project with well-known developers Majestic Realty.


Published: Feb. 3, 2021 at 8:19 PM PST


LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - A billion dollar partnership is underway between the City of Laredo and one of the largest privately-held developer in the nation.


A project of this magnitude will make Laredo a competitor to larger cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Trade is by far the largest industry in the City of Laredo. The industry is on track to grow even larger now that city council has agreed to move forward with an industrial development project with well-known developers Majestic Realty.


”Majestic has a multiphase project out there,” said City Manager Robert Eads. “It’s two-thousand acres of development. It’s the old uni-royal race track. So, they purchased all of that land and they develop into these pre designed warehouse spaces that Laredo really, really needs at this point because we’re lacking on warehouse spacing.” The partnership includes six phases with what is called a Tax Increment Investment Zone, or TIRZ. A TIRZ is essentially tax dollars raised within the TIRZ boundary that will be used for improvement to streets, sewer, or lighting.


The good thing is that the developer has already started growing roots in the city. In phase one of the project, Majestic Realty lured in logistic companies like GE, Source Logistics, and Toyota Supplier, Yazaki.

”They want to go into phase two, and they’ve come to us saying look that’s going to be a loan, phase two is 200 million dollars worth of construction, and so before they move on they’re saying look we’re going to need some help from the city and not immediate help,” said Eads. “They’re not asking for one penny from the City of Laredo.” The deal is to have 55% going to majestic improvements and 45% going to the City of Laredo.

However, Eads says money will not go into Majestic’s pocket, it will go into a TIRZ account.


”The fund then pays for the added cost of the investment of the project, streets the reimbursement for the roads, reimbursement from sewer, reinvestment for sidewalks.” Fifty-three million dollars will be going into projects within the TIRZ boundary. The city will see a total revenue of roughly $60 million and will have space for a future fire station. The partnership will span over a 30 year term.


According to Eads, within the next couple of weeks the city will fine tune the numbers and then ask city council to establish an ordinance that’ll set the boundaries, a board, and a base value.



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