City Commissioner Ruben J. Saldana’s weekly reports come from a spirit of transparency and willingness to share information in hopes it forms more informed opinions.

“A lack of information leads to people making assumptions and lots of times those assumptions are bad ones,” said Saldana, who also serves as the mayor pro-tem, and in his work life is a district administrator for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

Saldana’s reports are detailed in the information provided and cover a range of topics from city budgets to major road projects to City Hall renovations. The city commissioner’s reports are the type of content a public information officer might provide – assuming people in those jobs can write such thorough information – and are impressive in the details offered.

A recent Saldana report covered business and residential development in Mercedes. The majority of report covered the degree of new home construction the city is experiencing. Post-pandemic era, the Mid-Valley has seen a surge of such developments as builders look eastward from McAllen and that saturated market to new opportunities in the rest of the Rio Grande Valley.

Mercedes has very much been part of that growth. In his report, Saldana reported on nine residential subdivisions that are going up or are in serious planning stages in Mercedes. They are found both north and south of Expressway 83. One of those developments is called Meadows and is a 30-acre development found on Mile 2 East, just south of the Heidelberg area. Another is Stables Estates that is located on Mile 1 East and lies adjacent to another new residential development – Valley Ranch Estates.

Another development is the Hacienda Olivia subdivision, which is located near Mercedes High School, with phase one of the development already sold out in available lots.

“We’re looking to grow,” Saldana said. “We have a lot of enthusiasm in wanting to see our city grow and builders are seeing that we’re willing to work with them.”

‘Professional And Trustworthy’                                   

Saldana confirmed that builders are looking westward to the Mid-Valley but added that growth is coming from the other direction as well.

Property is becoming ever more expensive in Harlingen and Brownsville, in particular, with the industrialization being seen at the Port of Brownsville and at SpaceX at Boca Chica Beach. Developers are looking in those Cameron County cities to build only to find land is too expensive, or some cities are not as helpful as they could be in offering cooperation from their respective city governments.

That’s where smaller communities like La Feria and Mercedes are benefitting. Both cities are seeing the sort of new home residential growth that once seemed out of reach. In Mercedes, it can be a case of builders and families wanting a new home “getting more house for their money” by coming to the Mid-Valley city. Mercedes is an ideal middle-of-the region point to live and commute east or west to their jobs in all parts of the Valley.

It’s all about a mindset, Saldana said. Mercedes like any other city has rules, regulations and a permitting process any residential or business developer has to go through in seeing a project to completion. Saldana says the City Commission is stressing to city staff that is take an amicable and professional approach to dealing with developers and local residents.

“Be professional and trustworthy and do your best to provide fast turnarounds to questions and issues that we get,” he said. “They are our customers and not impositions of our time.”

Coming Developments

All trends point to Mercedes getting more of these types of inquiries from residential and business developers.

The city is poised for substantially more retail development in areas adjacent to the Rio Grande Valley Outlets. It will only spark even more new rooftops in the Mid-Valley city, where Saldana said “there is capacity for more growth.”

It may be the sort of growth a larger city may see with a sort of ho-hum attitude or with some ambivalence. In Mercedes, however, it will be seen quite differently.

“Our leadership in the city is positive and we deal with you straight up,” Saldana said.

It’s on to the next weekly Saldana report where information can hopefully better inform locally formed assumptions.

• Ric Cavazos