Interactive Op-Ed · February 2026
Building on Trade
Laredo's Billion-Dollar Industrial Moment
The Transformation
Between 2018 and 2026, Laredo's industrial footprint grew by nearly 70%, and the city's tax base grew with it.
Published endpoints only: the levy from 2013 to 2025, the footprint from 2018 to 2026
USMCA takes effect, reshoring incentives accelerate
Site selectors shift to border markets: lots projected to sell in 3 years move in 8 months
11.3M SF under construction across the corridor
Tax acceleration begins, industrial construction hits the rolls
$137.4M, more than double the 2013 levy
Mile Marker 13
Mile Marker 13
The FM 1472 and I-35 corridor in North Laredo accounts for approximately 36% of the city's total industrial inventory across four major parks.
Square area proportional to built SF
North Laredo Industrial Park
NLIPOne of the largest development platforms in the Mile Marker 13 corridor, with 1,386 acres and the corridor's most active construction pipeline.
Broader NW Corridor
Five additional parks along I-35 and FM 1472 complement the MM13 core zone.
Mile Marker 13: Core Zone Composition
National developers, family offices, and institutional joint ventures have committed over $1 billion across the corridor.
Post-construction vacancy is a normal phase in fast-growing industrial markets. Peer logistics markets across the Sun Belt are experiencing similar absorption cycles after record construction waves.
Laredo's 11.5% industrial vacancy reflects a market absorbing new supply, the same cycle the Inland Empire went through, normalizing to 7–8% after its construction wave. This is a normal post-construction absorption cycle, not a structural problem.
Laredo's current vacancy reflects a market absorbing new supply. The Inland Empire, which hit record-low vacancy during the pandemic boom, has since normalized to the 7–8% range as new supply entered the market. Laredo is now following the same pattern. Much of the available inventory consists of 300,000–400,000+ SF buildings designed for institutional tenants.
Vacancy data from CoStar, Cushman & Wakefield, and CBRE market reports, Q3–Q4 2025.
Current Model
First-Touch Model
The infrastructure that private capital has built makes a different logistics model operationally possible.
Workforce Development
Training programs aligned with institutional logistics operations, warehousing technology, and supply chain management.
Multimodal Connectivity
Rail, highway, and port-of-entry investments that support the volume and velocity of modern supply chains.
Permitting & Regulatory Environment
Streamlined processes that attract institutional tenants and enable rapid deployment of new logistics operations.
The private sector built the foundation.
The opportunity now belongs to the entire community.