Brownsville is celebrating a succession of big announcements and developments that are powering a thriving local economy – and the city’s mayor says there’s more big news on the way.

At a recent State of the City address, Mayor John Cowen said another “multi-billion-dollar investment” at the Port of Brownsville will soon be confirmed and made public. It would add to the recent announcement of a new refinery being built at the port and the ongoing construction of LNG plants at the harbor.

Next up at the port is a 400-acre shipyard. Cowen did not mention the ship builder by name, but it has been widely reported that Saronic, an Austin-based defense technology company, is in advanced negotiations to build a $3.2 billion shipyard at the Port of Brownsville. Saronic’s “Port Alpha” in Brownsville would produce unmanned, AI-powered autonomous surface vessels for the U.S. Navy.

“This investment will be on the same scale as SpaceX,” Cowen said in comparing the potential shipyard to the nearby Starbase at Boca Chica Beach. “Instead of space exploration, this project (shipyard) has the opportunity to position Brownsville at the forefront of advanced manufacturing, maritime innovation, and national defense.”

Cowen led off his address at the Texas Southmost College Performing Arts Center with news of the shipyard. The mayor then proceeded to go through a list of recent successes that are seeing the city surge with economic development and job growth. 

Infrastructure Improvements

“Prosperity with purpose” is how Cowen billed the rapid growth his city is experiencing.

Brownsville’s prosperity in attracting large industrial interests brings new challenges. The demand for housing is increasing with new residents looking for homes. This has driven home sale prices upward with concerns about gentrification and long-term residents being displaced due to soaring rents and taxes.

Cowen highlighted in his speech that the city is not forgetting about basic community needs amid the rapid economic development. The city is working through a $357 million capital improvement plan with $250 million already invested in a number of street and roadway improvements. The mayor said the city has improved 47,000 linear feet of roadways across 26 streets. 

Some of those improvements include old Highway 77 that has seen growing volumes of traffic on the city’s north side.  Old Alice Road, Wild Rose Lane and Milpa Verde in the city’s Southmost area are other major roadways that have been revitalized. It’s all part of Brownsville’s efforts to “reconstruct and improve roads as fast as we can,” the mayor said.

Another integral part of what Cowen called “core infrastructure” includes upgrades in utilities and drainage systems as the city moves to cope with its rapid growth.

New Jobs For Local Economy

To that end, job growth was a headliner in the mayor’s speech.

Cowen rattled off a list of statistics related to temporary and new jobs being generated by existing and new companies coming to Brownsville. 

• The shipyard coming to the city’s port “has the potential to create 10,000 jobs,” Cowen said, with an economic input of $164 billion. The new jobs at the site would include welders, pipefitters, engineers, and software developers, he said. 
• The America First Refinery that’s being built at the port will create 7,200 construction jobs and eventually employ 500 permanent employees. The Brownsville refinery will be the first new major oil refinery in 50 years in the United States. It will produce 60 million barrels of U.S. light shale oil annually. 
• SpaceX’s Starbase on Boca Chica Beach currently employs 4,000 people, Cowen said, with projections that it will add another 4,000 jobs in the coming years. SpaceX hopes to have 25 rocket launches per year, which would represent a big jump over the 11 launches thus far. The mayor said every launch attracts new visitors and boosts tourism with a $9 million impact seen thus far from the liftoffs in the way of more business for area hotels, retailers and restaurants. 
• The Rio Grande LNG plant currently being built at the port will employ up to 5,000 workers during peak construction and will eventually require about 400 permanent employees. 

 It all adds up to a network of indirect jobs tied to these developments with suppliers and support companies coming into the Brownsville area to do business with industrial clients. 

“What a year,” Cowen said in his address. “This is real growth and real momentum.”