A Uvalde Hesperian Exclusive Story on City of Uvalde / Amazon land deal
By Michael Robinson: Uvalde Hesperian
The Uvalde Hesperian submitted a revised public records request to the City of Uvalde on March 24th asking for all city emails pertaining to the Amazon land deal pending with City within 5 days of the announcement on February 24th, 2026
05-12-26
UVALDE — When the City of Uvalde prepared to vote on selling 12.7 acres near the airport to Amazon.com Services LLC in February 2026, Uvalde City Manager Joe A. Cárdenas reached out to the company with a heads-up.
In an email dated Feb. 17, 2026, Cárdenas told Amazon representatives that council members would face lots of questions from local media once the deal became public.
“Our local media will be asking a million questions about you all coming to Uvalde,” he wrote. “Any plans on making a public (joint) announcement?”
Amazon’s response was clear: keep the public record minimal.
On February 18th, Jessica Breaux, Amazon’s senior manager of economic development, replied.
“Hi Joe-
Yes, I am tracking the Council action needed in next week’s meeting. For the Council meeting, our preference would be to share as little detail as possible and our PR team suggests something like, “We are working with Amazon to develop a new facility to support customer delivery in Uvalde. The company will share additional details about their plans when they can. For any immediate questions, please reach out to amazon-Rr@amazon.com.” Any inquiries to that email address will go straight to our PR team so they can manage any questions until we’re able to complete the land transaction. ”
City of Uvalde Mayor Hector Luevano announced the deal after the council reconvened from executive session at the Tuesday, February 24th Uvalde City Council Meeting,
In an email sent to the City on Feb. 18, Breaux, Amazon’s senior manager of economic development, replied that the company had “no objection” to the council’s proposed resolution language. She added:
The resolution itself was stripped-down and procedural. It authorized the sale of “12.6983 acres on Howard Langford Drive to Amazon.com Services LLC in accordance with the terms of the Purchase and Sale Contract” and gave Mayor Hector Luevano authority to sign the deed and closing documents. No mention of jobs, investment amounts, or project details was included.
The emails, obtained through a public-records request and labeled “Responsive Info – Amazon_Redacted 1.pdf,” show the city moving quickly to close the $552,745.91 land sale. Lawyers exchanged multiple drafts of the purchase-and-sale agreement, slip-sheeted signature pages, and coordinated title-policy wording so the city could avoid asking the mayor to re-sign.
Amazon internally referred to the project as “Project Chase.” The company also reminded city officials of nondisclosure agreement provisions concerning public-records requests and asked to be notified of any FOIA inquiries.
City officials accommodated the request without apparent pushback. The council was scheduled to consider the resolution in open session the week of Feb. 24–27, 2026.
On February 25th, the Uvalde Hesperian emailed Amazon.com asking the following questions:
Dear Amazon PR Team,
I’m Michael Robinson, the publisher of the Uvalde Hesperian, a local
media company covering the recent Uvalde City Council vote to sell 12.68
acres on Howard Langford Drive for your proposed delivery facility near
Garner Field Airport.
The announcement has generated real excitement here, but residents
want more than headlines—especially around jobs, timeline, and impacts.
1. How many positions will this station create (full-time, part-time,
seasonal)? Any breakdown by role?
2. When do you expect construction to begin, and when will it be
operational?
3. How much of the facility’s operations will use robotics or AI—and
will that reduce human staffing over time?
4. What made this site ideal—land cost, incentives, highway access? Were
there tax breaks or grants?
5. Has Amazon completed traffic, noise, or environmental studies? What’s
the plan for truck volume and air quality?
6. Is this a standalone hub, or could it expand (e.g., drone operations,
air cargo)?
Later that same day, the Uvalde Hesperian received the following statement from Daniel Martin, Amazon Spokesperson: ““We’re exploring the development of a new facility to support faster customer delivery in Uvalde. Additional steps remain but we appreciate the great working relationship we have with local officials and will share more information as it becomes available.”
