Massive 175-acre Sharyland industrial park underway near Anzalduas International Bridge

Nearly seven years after acquiring thousands of acres in the Rio Grande Valley, a Laredo-based company is moving forward with a 175-acre Sharyland Business Park in Mission. 

Killam Development acquired 3,400 acres from Hunt Valley Development in 2019. Both South Texas companies have deep roots in the oil and gas industry. 

The site is less than a mile from the Anzalduas International Bridge, which is expected to accommodate commercial truck traffic by mid-2026. 

About $8 million in infrastructure improvements at the industrial park was offset by a $3 million grant from the Economic Development Administration, which paid for utilities, water, roads, and flood-control measures. The project is expected to support 300 jobs. 

The Sharyland Business Park is expected to cost $275 million to build and to generate 2.5 million square feet of industrial space for cold storage, manufacturing, or warehousing operations. 

The project also sits within a Foreign Trade Zone, which means businesses operating within the park can import goods from overseas without paying initial tariffs, manufacture or repackage goods, and then pay tariffs only on the value-added product. 

That’s in part because of the location, minutes from the McAllen International Airport, the Pharr and Anzalduas International bridges, and Interstate 2. 

“We’re seeing incredible traction with several lots under contract or of interest,” said Cliffe Killam, CEO of Killam Development. 

The Anzalduas International Bridge opened about 15 years ago, but primarily serves pedestrians and passenger vehicles. It also allows empty southbound trucks. After an $88 million expansion project is completed to enable northbound cargo and commercial truck traffic, it could process 2,000 trucks each day.

There has been a slowdown in companies’ investment in new projects, even for nearshoring along the Texas-Mexico border, but Killam said he saw it more as a pause than disinvestment. 

“I’m incredibly optimistic that while there may be a little bit of a pause for certain businesses, we’re still seeing other ones with a lot of growth. This is really a multi-decade opportunity,” he said. 

As the new industrial park attracts tenants, there’s plenty of room for targeted industries, officials said. 

“We want to designate this as an innovation district where we can work to draw into the park tech companies, advanced manufacturing, and global logistics to be part of this operation,” said Teclo Garcia, Mission Economic Development Corporation CEO. 

Killam Development is also the company behind El Milagro, a 175-acre mixed-use development with retail and a residential community with more than 700 units – about 350 of which will be single-family homes. That project sits within a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, which is expected to use $13 million to build roads and extend water and wastewater infrastructure.