A great deal of Gigi Quinlan McAreavy’s job as economic development director of Mexico is networking in order to get Mexico’s name out and keep the community relevant.

Now that she has spent a year in the position, McAreavy gave council members an overview of Mexico’s development in 2025 during a presentation at the Mexico City Council meeting Jan. 26.

“I think the future looks really bright here in Mexico, and I’m excited to be here and be your economic developer,” McAreavy said.

Local businesses
Last year, 26 new business licenses were issued in Mexico, 11 of which were brick-and-mortar businesses, six were home-based food trucks and five were beauticians. A total of five businesses closed.

Mexico has vacant buildings that McAreavy said could be an asset to the community. One such building is the 600,000-square-foot facility that served as the former Home Depot distribution center’s main office. According to McAreavy, the building has a lot of potential because The Home Depot left behind racking and hydrogen fuel cells used to power the forklifts.

“That has sparked a lot of interest in people that I’ve talked to,” McAreavy said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what can come of that next year.”

Recent discussions of a proposed 5,000-acre data center in Montgomery County inspired McAreavy to introduce information about data centers to Mexico’s City Council.

Data centers are knocking on people’s doors and I want to start educating us to see if this is something that you would like to see us recruit, McAreavy said, addressing the council. She presented four different types of data centers to the council stating that while they won’t bring as many jobs, data centers are a “cash cow” for the school system.

“I haven’t heard as many negatives about it yet — I'm not saying they are not out there,” she said. “I do think there’s some misinformation, but there’s still a lot of education I need to be aware of.”

Council members were receptive to the suggestion, and Larry Webber said the former AP Green site would be a “great data center site." But a roadblock that affects both the recruiting process for vacant buildings and any future data center is power availability.

“Everybody’s wanting power, and these data centers are taking a lot of the equipment that is needed to build power out,” McAreavy said.

The job market
The top five employers in Mexico are the Mexico School District with 410 employees, True Manufacturing with 400 employees, Spartan Light Metal Products with 319 employees, Walmart Supercenter with 266 employees and the Missouri Veterans Home with 252 employees.

“Western Smokehouse Partners — I did talk to the CEO — and to date, they have 120 jobs,” McAreavy said. “They’re going to ramp up again in April 2026 and hire another 40 to 50 as they continue to build out.”

Both The Home Depot distribution center and Crown Linen closed in 2025, threatening to leave a lot of people without jobs. Throughout the closures, McAreavy worked closely with Dana Keller, executive director of the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce to mitigate the effects.

“The one thing that Dana has taught me is to hurry up and have a job fair so we don’t lose these employees,” McAreavy said.

Using Crown Linen as an example, McAreavy said 35 people were displaced, but nearly all of them — except for those who were already retiring — found new employment. She added that the majority of the more than 60 people who lost their jobs with The Home Depot also secured new employment through the job fairs.

“It’s really important to have these job fairs so we retain them because we have enough companies here that need employees,” McAreavy said. “We got positive feedback and it was great to work with Dana on that.”

McAreavy also told council that 20 jobs lost or gained in a rural community like Mexico is the equivalent of 2,300 jobs lost or gained in the St. Louis metropolitan area, a statistic she learned at a recent Department of Economic Development meeting.

“Building our future workforce — something that I’ve been trying to get more and more involved with — is our kiddos and keeping our workforce here,” she said, adding that she has participated in the Reality Store, Mexico High School Manufacturing Day and the lunch buddy program.

The housing market and availability
As a former real estate appraiser, housing is an area McAreavy said she is passionate about.

In 2025, 20 single-family housing permits were issued, during which time the city offered housing incentive and demolition programs.

“That was to get single family residential lots on the ground,” Bruce Slagle, city manager, said.

Of those permits, eight were from the housing incentive program and three were from the demolition program. Neither program is active this year and McAvery said it is because the county chose not to participate again.

“It will be up for discussion on what we want to do with our portion,” she said. “Those were successful programs.”

Mexico needs more affordable workforce housing and has taken steps in that direction with the recent approval of sketch plans for the Bellray subdivision, McAreavy said. The goal for the new homes is to keep the price under $200,000.

“How are we going to fill a 600,000-square-foot building if we don’t have more housing?” she added.

Mainstreet Mexico and beautification efforts
Something as simple as curbs and gutters just beautifies your streets, McAreavy said.

Mexico is currently updating its wastewater systems citywide, but that effort is only one part of broader revitalization efforts. McAreavy added that Mainstreet Mexico recently planted trees and has been looking at ways to rejuvenate the Jefferson Street Mini Park.

“That is another quality of life feature that helps me promote the area,” she said. “I think Main Street is doing a really nice job from what I see, but nobody moves as fast as I would like to see them move.”

McAreavy’s Main Street focus has been the demolition of Hardin Gym at Presser Arts Center, which has been a project that has taken longer than originally anticipated.

“You are dealing with SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office) anytime you have a historic building and it did put a little snag on it, but we’re back up and running again,” she said.

McAreavy said her biggest takeaway from her first year was that Mexico collaborates well.

“A thriving community is one that collaborates and works together,” she said. “I think we are better together.”