CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Halloween may be around the corner, but what\u2019s really giving Alice city leaders a thrill this month isn\u2019t ghosts or goblins…. it\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
After years of economic hits from the oil and gas downturn, Alice officials say the city is finally seeing signs of a comeback. New homes, new businesses, and new confidence in the future.<\/p>\n
City Manager Michael Esparza met this week with his department heads to talk through a string of development projects that could reshape the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking at a potential development of 358 houses in town,\u201d Esparza said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty big for our community, especially from an economic development standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another smaller subdivision, with 27 homes is also planned on the city\u2019s southwest side. For a town that\u2019s seen its population and tax base shrink for years, it\u2019s welcome news.<\/p>\n
Restaurant owner Roberto Diaz, who recently opened Mr. Bones, said local entrepreneurs are feeling that same energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to bring to Alice something different, something they don\u2019t have,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cSo they don\u2019t have to go back to Corpus or San Antonio. Keeping it local.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alice has always been a hub for South Texas, sitting at the crossroads of major highways and rail lines. But now, with a new desalination plant designed to provide a long-term water supply, city leaders believe Alice is positioned to attract bigger industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater is a big part of our future,\u201d Esparza added. \u201cPeople are looking at us because of the availability of water.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Councilwoman Sandra Maldonado-Bowen says it\u2019s time to turn that interest into jobs that keep families in town.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want a factory that could employ one to two hundred people, that\u2019s economic development,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we want those employees living and spending in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Esparza says sales tax numbers are climbing, and infrastructure upgrades are already underway. More signs that Alice might finally be turning the page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Halloween may be around the corner, but what\u2019s really giving Alice city leaders a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-5172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}