Real estate in the Rio Grande Valley is no longer just local — and outside investors are starting to take notice.
In this episode of the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal Podcast, Naxiely Lopez-Puente sits down with Daniel Galvan, a broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial, to discuss how capital is flowing into the region and what is driving demand across industrial, retail, and commercial markets.
Galvan explains how projects like SpaceX and broader regional growth are putting the Valley on the radar of national and international investors — while local buyers continue to reinvest and expand.
The conversation breaks down how the market is shifting after the pandemic surge, with pricing stabilizing, inventory increasing, and industrial supply beginning to catch up after years of tight availability.
It also explores what is making deals more complex — from rising insurance and operating costs to investor caution — and how the Valley is evolving from a single-city focus into a more regional market spanning multiple communities.
The following is a rough, AI-generated transcript of Naxiely Lopez’s interview with Daniel Galvan of Coldwell Banker Commercial. There may be slight errors in the transcription and possible misspellings of proper names. For the full, unabridged conversation, listen to the episode above or through your preferred podcast platform.
DANIEL GALVAN:
SpaceX has the eyes of probably not even just the country, but maybe even the world on it. They’re launching rockets pretty consistently less than an hour from here. That’s pretty incredible.
And so there are just a lot of eyes on the Rio Grande Valley from all over, even internationally. We’ve literally had conference calls with companies and corporations from outside the country with an interest in doing business here, specifically in the Brownsville area.
European companies. So yeah, we’re not a secret anymore.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Yeah. It doesn’t seem like it.
Hi, thank you for joining us on this episode of the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal podcast. I’m Naxiely Lopez, and today we have Daniel Galvan with us.
Daniel is a broker with Coldwell Banker Commercial. Did I say that right?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Yes, ma’am.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
All right. Very well. Daniel, thank you so much for joining us today.
DANIEL GALVAN:
Thank you for having me. Of course, I had to be here with you.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
All right, Daniel. Introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
DANIEL GALVAN:
Yeah, thank you.
My name is Daniel Galvan. I’m a broker with Coldwell Banker Commercial. We are a full-service commercial real estate company with offices in McAllen and Brownsville, servicing all of the Rio Grande Valley.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Okay, great.
And so you have been doing this for a long time, very familiar with the market. My understanding is about 20 years in, and you have closed over $1 billion in deals here, right?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Yes, ma’am.
It’s been a long 20 years. There have been ups and downs, but it’s crazy how fast it went by. So yeah, coming up on 20 years.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Wow. And so what are you seeing?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Today, a lot of excitement.
The Rio Grande Valley is a special place, especially when it comes to real estate. There’s a lot going on with SpaceX, the Port of Brownsville, McAllen making these big announcements.
It’s a really fun place to do what we do.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Right. And we’re seeing a lot of interest. Are you seeing interest from people here or outsiders?
DANIEL GALVAN:
It’s a good combination of both, actually.
We do a lot of business that originates from outside the region, but there are always people who are here, from here, born here, raised here, who want to invest here.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Have you seen more outside interest? Has that increased from when you started to now? What can you tell us about that?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Yeah, absolutely.
SpaceX has the eyes of probably not even just the country, but maybe even the world on it. They’re launching rockets pretty consistently less than an hour from here. That’s pretty incredible.
And so there are just a lot of eyes on the Rio Grande Valley from all over, even internationally. We’ve literally had conference calls with companies and corporations from outside the country with an interest in doing business here, specifically in the Brownsville area.
European companies. So yeah, we’re not a secret anymore.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Yeah. It doesn’t seem like it.
And so what kind of businesses are looking at our area?
DANIEL GALVAN:
A lot of industrial, manufacturing, distribution, but also technology now.
Brownsville is making a hard push on technology. That’s a big sector that I think has a lot of opportunity.
Healthcare and medical are really big here. So we’re a very well-versed real estate community.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Interesting. So what does a good deal look like right now?
DANIEL GALVAN:
They keep saying it’s a buyer’s market.
It’s a good time to be a buyer in today’s environment. There’s a lot of inventory on the market, which could correlate to a buyer’s market.
Anything at a discount right now, I think, would be worth looking at.
Historically, real estate has been expensive these last few years coming out of the pandemic. So seeing those values start to level off and lead to affordability for people — if you find something that’s a good deal, look at jumping on it.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Okay. I heard you speak one time not too long ago. Last year, I was part of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership leadership class, and you were one of our guest speakers at the Port of Brownsville.
You came in and basically broke down what the pricing was for commercial and industrial. Do you have some insight on that? What are prices like now?
DANIEL GALVAN:
They’ve been pretty stable.
There hasn’t been a whole lot of inflation or deflation on values, at least on the commercial side.
Land values have remained pretty consistent. Improved commercial property has remained pretty consistent. Even retail rates have remained pretty consistent.
If anything, the rates have started to trickle down in the retail world, but nothing too crazy, to be honest.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
What’s a fair price right now per square foot?
DANIEL GALVAN:
On the retail side, anywhere between $2 and $3 per square foot.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
What about industrial?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Seventy-five cents to $1 a foot per month.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
I was with the EDC last year, and I remember hearing that our industrial space is limited. My understanding was there was more interest than space available.
Is that still the case?
DANIEL GALVAN:
That was the case for sure.
There’s a lot of product on the industrial side that’s getting ready to come out of the ground. We’ll see that pop up here pretty soon, and that should kind of balance the scales.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Is that basically a result of there not being enough?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Absolutely. Yes.
And it’s great to see the supply keeping up with the demand. It took a little while.
This all kind of pent up during the pandemic, at least that’s what I saw. Since then, it’s been tight. The industrial sector has been tight in the Valley.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Interesting.
What are you seeing that investors are flagging or that is making them apprehensive about closing a deal?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Insurance costs.
Insurance is tricky these days, depending on where you are. Taxes, too. And just operating costs.
It’s a little bit more expensive to do things these days — to own buildings, to build stuff. It’s a little bit trickier. That’s the word I like to use.
So yeah, there are some reservations out there.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Okay. What else are you seeing? What else can you tell us generally?
DANIEL GALVAN:
The Valley is awesome. There’s so much awesome stuff going on here.
The football program was an incredible success, at least that’s what I saw from the outside looking in.
You’ve got SpaceX, launching rockets. Retailers still want to be here. IKEA came in. Nordstrom Rack.
So we’re getting new big retail. A lot of new entertainment concepts are looking at the Valley. Quality-of-life stuff is so important.
I love working on stuff like that. There’s still a lot happening behind the scenes in the real estate world. Exciting stuff.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Anything you can offer us today? Any news?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Breaking news?
I shared a little bit with you right now. Some new entertainment concepts.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
So new entertainment. Okay. Where are we seeing those?
DANIEL GALVAN:
You’re starting to see it everywhere.
I think the Valley has regionalized a little bit. When people come into the market to look and tour, they look at everything — not just McAllen, not just Brownsville.
They’re generally looking at everything.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Interesting.
For a long time, McAllen really was the driver. If you wanted to have a business, you were looking at that area. But now we’re seeing, like you said, a more regional approach.
DANIEL GALVAN:
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s great to see. It’s the way it should be.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
No question.
Anything else you’d like to add that maybe I didn’t ask you?
DANIEL GALVAN:
I think we touched on a little bit of everything.
For me, it’s how exciting of a time it is to be in the Rio Grande Valley with everything going on. I’m super excited for the next five, 10 years, and to see what that brings.
Not just from a real estate perspective, but from an economic development perspective.
You touched on the Partnership. I’m actually speaking at the same panel tomorrow.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Oh, wow. Yeah.
DANIEL GALVAN:
I love doing stuff like this. Thank you for having me, and I’m always around.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Okay. I guess just one last question.
Now that you mentioned the next five, 10 years, where do you see the Valley?
DANIEL GALVAN:
That’s a great question.
I see a lot of different things for the Valley. I see the healthcare industry continuing to grow. I see the university continuing to grow. I see Brownsville continuing to grow with the announcement of the refinery in Brownsville. We’ll see what happens there.
Just a lot of big things going on.
I want to be able to recognize the Valley in 10 years, but we’ll see.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
How much has it changed in the past 10 years, do you think?
DANIEL GALVAN:
A crazy amount.
It’s pretty incredible to see.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
What did a good deal look like five years ago compared to what a good deal looks like today?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Five years ago, we were getting going in the pandemic, right?
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
It was a very disruptive time.
DANIEL GALVAN:
It was a crazy real estate market because there was a lot of activity. There were a lot of transactions taking place, and values got driven up.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Right when people started coming back out?
DANIEL GALVAN:
Not even just when they started coming back out. There was access to funding and things like that.
There were also a lot of people coming in from out of state. That’s when all the California folks were coming, buying homes sight unseen, multiple offers for sellers, driving up those values.
And dropping cash.
So there really wasn’t a good deal five years ago. What you’re starting to see today is coming up on good deals.
That was unheard of in 2021. Everything was expensive.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Really. So it’s finally tapering off.
DANIEL GALVAN:
It is. And that’s a good thing.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
All right. One last question.
Where is the money flowing right now? Where’s capital going?
DANIEL GALVAN:
In the real estate world?
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Yeah, in the real estate world.
DANIEL GALVAN:
That’s a great question.
Local money, most of the time, goes right back into the economy, which is great.
A lot of the outside capital comes in and is acquiring investments — what we call net lease investments are really popular right now.
There are a lot of bigger buyers in the market now, institutional buyers coming in from out of the area to acquire property and develop property.
There’s some of that.
But we’re very privileged and fortunate in the Valley to have so many people wanting to develop here.
Doesn’t mean everybody should, but we’re very blessed in that regard.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
All right. Daniel, thank you so much for joining us.
And for everybody at home, make sure to subscribe and keep reading.
DANIEL GALVAN:
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
NAXIELY LOPEZ:
Of course. Thank you.
