What’s fostering growth in Laredo?

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.

Listen to Podcast 160 for this story…and more!