< PreviousRURAL OPPORTUNITYTEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 97 I f you took away all the company investment projects in Texas metro areas, you’d still end up with enough projects to propel an economy. They pop up in places like Kerrville, Marble Falls and Shiner (home of the eponymous bock beer). Towns with names as quick as the time it takes to pass through them — Wink, Alice and Paris — or as long as it takes to cross Texas itself: Nacogdoches, Fredericksburg, Eagle Pass, Mineral Wells. It can be hard to get out from under the wing of the state’s 25 fast-growing metro areas. But in 2023 alone, 57 projects landed in rural towns located outside of them. Texas micropolitan areas made Site Selection magazine’s Top Micropolitan Areas by collectively welcoming 19 projects in 2023, led by the four projects tallied in Paris, known for having a manufacturing job concentration three times the national average. by ADAM BRUNS Countryside Projects Help Fill Countrywide Needs Countrywide Constructed in 1993, the 65-ft. Eiffel Tower replica in Paris, Texas, is approximately one-sixteenth the size of the original in France, but it is, the city reminds visitors, “the Largest Eiffel Tower in the World ... with a red cowboy hat.” Photo: Getty Images98 TEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE Among them is a $30 million, 80- job expansion from Finland-based Huhtamaki in foodservice packaging operations at a site it gained through acquisition in 2011. “Production is expected to start ramping up in Q1 2025,” the company stated, “and will be key to servicing the growth of existing customers and a growing list of up-and-coming customers throughout the Southern and Midwestern states.” The project came four months after Houston-based Ametsa Packaging chose Paris for its own sweetener and sugar products operation, where it will create 100 jobs over the next few years at a previously idled 350,000-sq.-ft. facility. Company President Carlos de Aldecoa summed A $100 million, 200-job expansion by Eaton Corp. in Nacogdoches will allow the doubling of production capacity for in-demand voltage regulators and three-phase transformers nationwide. Photo courtesy of EatonTEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 99 up how his company’s staying power meshes with the endurance of a town founded in 1845: “With our business foundation of almost a century, our family is focused on the long term,”he said last spring. “The Paris-Lamar region is a perfect launchpad for the next 100 years.” Also settling in for the long term in Paris is Ontario, Canada-based metal fabricator Universal Fabricating, which is creating 100 new jobs in Sumner (part of the Paris micropolitan area in Lamar County) at an average wage of $60,000. The project will enable Universal to “more effectively serve the greenhouse, automotive, airport and logistics markets in the United States and Mexico,” said a release. “We are thrilled to be joining the Paris community and to be creating meaningful jobs for the people of Lamar County and surrounding areas,” said Neil Harms, president of Universal, last spring. “We hope that our innovative approach to fabrication will bring skilled trade jobs and build long lasting careers for the people of this great community. We are very grateful for the efforts of the Paris Economic Development Corporation for making this happen. They guided us along every step of the way and went above and beyond to showcase the community’s assets.” Among the largest small-town projects in Texas in 2023 is a facility serving an urgent national need. Ground was broken in October 2023 by power management company Eaton for a $100 million, 200,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its Nacogdoches manufacturing facility. The project will create 200 new jobs and double production capacity of Eaton voltage regulators and three-phase transformers “to meet surging utility demand for solutions accelerating grid modernization.” “Utilities across the U.S. are modernizing critical infrastructure to accelerate a smarter grid and clean energy future,” said Guillaume Laur, Eaton senior vice president — Power Delivery and Regulation. “Our solutions are vital to make these projects a reality, and we’re making steady investments to support our utility customers.” Eaton “ We are thrilled to be joining the Paris community and to be creating meaningful jobs for the people of Lamar County and surrounding areas. ” — Neil Harms, President, Universal Fabricating100 TEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE will continue to produce single- phase, pole-mount and pad-mount transformers in Texas to address the acute supply shortage for these products, the company said. Another rural project tied to a national infrastructure need is the $73 million, 170-job expansion by Atlanta- based Superior Essex Communications at its communications cable plant in Brownwood, located smack dab in the middle of the rectangle formed by the DFW region, Abilene, San Angelo and Austin, near even smaller towns named Thrifty, Early, Blanket and Bangs. The company is making the investment to help meet global demand for OSP fiber optic cables, drop fiber and hybrid cables as broadband buildouts continue across the nation. The expansion brings the plant to more than 500,000 sq. ft. of production space. “The Brownwood plant improvements are not only an investment in our company, but also an investment in U.S. manufacturing and in communities across America,” said Superior Essex Communications President Brad Johnson. “This expansion will create manufacturing jobs right here in America, which will bring more employment opportunities to the Brownwood region and boost production of American-made broadband products. In doing so, we’re demonstrating our commitment to providing ‘Build America, Buy America’ products that help deliver high-speed broadband services to communities across the nation.” The rural community of Uvalde is welcoming its own company project, a 12-job expansion by Gail and Pat Jackowski at Uvalde Meat Market & Processing, where in addition to domestic farm animal processing wild game harvested by hunters is prepped for consumption. But it’s another project filling an education infrastructure need that is garnering support from companies, organizations and citizens across the region and the country. In late March 2023 the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation announced a $1 million gift from John L. Nau III and Silver Eagle Beverages to go directly toward building a new elementary school in the Uvalde Consolidated Thanks in large part to generous donations from major employers, a new elementary school is under construction in Uvalde, Texas. Rendering courtesy of Huckabee Architects and Uvalde CISDTEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 101 Independent School District (Uvalde CISD) following the 2022 shooting tragedy at Robb Elementary School. Construction began on March 4. The Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation was created through gifts from beloved Texas grocery chain H-E-B and the Butt family totaling $10 million. Huckabee Inc. donated its services, becoming a founding partner. Beginning in fall 2022, the Foundation began working with the Uvalde CISD Community Advisory Committee to develop the plans for the new elementary school. Those plans were approved by the Uvalde CISD Board of Trustees in April 2023. “I am proud to support this effort to build a new school in Uvalde,” said John L. Nau III, chairman and CEO of Silver Eagle Beverages, in March. “As a business member of the Uvalde community, Silver Eagle Beverages is proud to support this important effort that impacts our local employees and their families and the many children and families of Uvalde.” “ As a business member of the Uvalde community, Silver Eagle Beverages is proud to support this important effort that impacts our local employees and their families and the many children and families of Uvalde. ” — John L. Nau III, Chairman and CEO, Silver Eagle BeveragesRising opportunities in a region with border connections 102 TEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE PROFILE: COSTEP O n the morning of March 14, Adam Gonzalez staked out a position on his back porch in Cameron County, Texas, cast his eyes eastward and watched in wonder as a SpaceX Super Heavy rocket hurtled skyward in a burst of flames from the Starbase spaceport on the Texas Gulf Coast. It was as if he were bearing witness not merely to the future of space flight, but to his own aspirations for the border region he calls Rio South Texas. Gonzalez is president of COSTEP, a former student loan non-profit that in recent years has pivoted to promoting economic development across a stretch of seven Texas border counties combined with, consequentially, a swath of northern Mexico. SpaceX, with its expanding spaceport and production facility in the coastal town of Boca Chica, is emblematic of the impactful type of enterprise he hopes to help attract more of. “Our focus,” he says, “is primary dollar industries. We want industries that are going to bring in money that are going to help lift the economic status of our region.” Anchored by thriving Laredo, McAllen and the bustling port city of Brownsville, it’s a region that covers Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Starr, Webb, Willacy and Zapata counties in Texas; and 10 manufacturing-heavy municipios in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. For Gonzalez, “media hype” that consistently highlights border Liftoff in Rio South Texasdisorder obscures what he sees as the region’s singular combination of assets, beginning with its low cost of living, statistically youthful workforce, a deep bench of colleges and community colleges, generous economic incentives, agreeable weather and laid-back lifestyle. And lots of available land. Getting that message out forms COSTEP’s primary mission. “They’ve done an excellent job of bringing in folks from around the country, in particular site consultants,” says Dale Fowler, economic and business development manager at the Texas electric utility AEP, “and giving them a much better understanding of what the region has to offer, how to do business there and the unique opportunities to do business partnering on both sides of the border.” In the Middle of the Supply Chain Embracing a “One Region, One Voice” mantra, COSTEP sells Rio South Texas as more than the sum of its individual parts. “I can boast about 1.3 million people within a 29 to 30 median age group, which is the prime workforce age,” says Gonzalez. “I can boast about seven community colleges. Laredo is the biggest land port in the nation. I have the deep- water Brownsville port and other ports. Highways and railways. Great beaches and great lifestyle. So, the dynamics make it easier to promote as an entire region, and that’s with everything still being so close.” And that’s not to mention the prime location. “We are,” says Gonzalez, “the middle of the supply chain. We can take you all the way down to South America from here, or we can take it all the way up to Canada. We can get you to the West Coast and get you to the East Coast. Our deepwater port connects to the Intracoastal waterway which takes you all the way up the Mississippi. Between our highways, railways, airports, seaports and our spaceport — which will one day offer travel to Mars — we’re the only place in the county I know of that has five intermodal means of transportation.” In addition to the region’s touted SpaceX venture, major LNG projects and a sprawling, new business park are underway at the Port of Brownsville. Indian software company Zoho opened an office in McAllen in 2022. “The Rio Grande Valley is one of the most unique and fastest growing regions in the United States,” the company said, “making it a perfect place for us to set up shop.” The Mexican Connection Far from being a detriment, the border location and the entree it offers to partnerships and markets in Mexico has become a unique selling point. “Mexico is key,” says Gonzalez. “You can have the more energy- intensive side of the operation on the U.S. side of the border and the more labor-intensive part on the Mexican side. A company can have twin plants. In some instances, a product might go back and forth across the border six times before you get a finished product.” Yet due to various treaties and free trade zones, Gonzalez says, “you don’t pay tariffs until the product has finished and reached its final destination. It just creates a lot of opportunities.” AEP’s Fowler believes the distinction between the two sides of the border “has become more fluid” as Mexican operators have accumulated enviable know-how. “There’s technical expertise from Mexico working with the U.S. side that a lot of people aren’t aware of. With Mexico,” Fowler says, “it’s not just about the labor anymore because of the expertise they’ve gained through years of manufacturing and assembly.” And with the carrot-and-stick movement of manufacturing operations out of China and other parts of Asia, the Mexican connection is becoming even more potent. “We’re definitely seeing reshoring opportunities,” Fowler says, “And this is where Texas is uniquely positioned with its Mexican partners. I think Mexico will be a big a winner for reshoring opportunities, as will Texas over the long haul. There’s a real strategic advantage to this region.” TEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 103 by GARY DAUGHTERS Photo courtesy of COSTEP104 TEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE W hen Site Selection looked at the top Texas projects by investment in 2023, it surprised no one that three of the top five projects (representing $33 billion in capital investment) were in the energy sector. The other two are in the closely related chemicals and plastics sectors. Texas is, after all, the energy capital, from the corporate skyscrapers, campuses and port- adjacent industrial corridor of metro Houston to the fields of West Texas and sites such as bp’s 2,100-employee refinery in Beaumont, which in 2023 celebrated production startup after a $2 billion expansion. Prominent across the state’s energy profile are multiple liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction complexes playing an equally prominent role in the U.S. economy, even as the White House in January 2024 hit the pause button on further project approvals pending even more environmental review of investments that undergo years of review already. (U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in March reassured industry executives that the pause was likely to be lifted within a year.) How valuable is LNG? “By 2030, the U.S. will have a total of 11 LNG export plants in operations,” says the Center for LNG, the Washington, D.C.-based industry association that’s part of the Natural Gas Supply Association. “The combined value of the LNG exported by these plants will reach $100 billion,” the Center says, citing a report from the Energy Policy Research Foundation (EPRF). That’s 3% of the entire U.S. trade balance. Without it, says the briefing, the August 2022 U.S. trade deficit would have been $72 billion, or 7.5% higher. A February 2024 chart from the EPRF shows that since exports of LNG began from the lower 48 U.S. states in February 2016, the country through October 2023 had exported 353 million metric tons to 49 countries, by ADAM BRUNS Multibillion-Dollar Projects Help Power the Future ENERGY The Rio Grande LNG Facility on the north shore of the Brownsville Ship Channel is located on 984 acres of land which has been leased long- term and includes 15,000 feet of frontage on the Brownsville Ship Channel. Rendering courtesy of Bechtel EnergyNext >