The North Brownsville Industrial Park, which opened for business on Paredes Line Road south of the S.H. 550 loop in 2012, finally has some — business, that is.
On Thursday the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation announced the 73-acre park’s first tenant: Excel Bobbins & Plastic Components, which is building a new 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on five acres at the site. Excel Bobbins, a plastic-injection molding manufacturer that came to the city in 1998, is relocating from the NAFTA Industrial Park off S.H. 48. near the Port of Brownsville.
Steve Becker, the company’s owner, said being in Brownsville “allows our customers to take advantage of the high-quality labor force with the lowest labor rates in the country” and that the company plans to expand its workforce to 20 employees.
John Cowen Jr., chairman of the board of directors of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, said “our collaboration with Excel Bobbins is a clear example of GBIC’s commitment supporting expansion within our local business community and helping businesses take advantage of market opportunities.”
GBIC should have more news related to the industrial park soon, he said.
“We do have another tenant that’s supposed to break ground this year, so there’s definitely movement, and hopefully we’ll build on this momentum and get this park ramped up,” Cowen said. “Brownsville has essentially run out of industrial space, so it’s forced people to look elsewhere for industrial property. We are primed as an organization to provide that resource, and we’re going to take advantage of this to the full potential.”
Although GBIC hasn’t closed on the deal with the second tenant, the two parties are “99 percent of the way there,” Cowen said.
“We continue to get a lot of calls from companies that want to expand or develop in Brownsville,” he said. “I think it’s a good time to invest in Brownsville.”
The new Excel Bobbins plant is under construction and expected to be complete in July.
