< PreviousSerendipity is how one of the oldest businesses in town got started decades ago. Speci cally, a German baker found in what many other business owners have discovered since: Corsicana, Texas, is where businesses can be successful and enduring in north central Texas — without having to be in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In fact, Corsicana is roughly equidistant to the Metroplex to the north, Waco to the southwest and Tyler to the east. To the south, Houston and Austin are easily accessible on Interstates and , respectively.In operation since the end of the th century, when Corsicana was a booming oil town, Collin Street Bakery is one of the oldest businesses in town, says Hayden Crawford, partner. “We have two bakeshops in Corsicana — one in historic downtown and the other on the Interstate. We also have a thriving mail-order business with the production facility right here in Corsicana. In fact, our executive o ces are above it, and our downtown bakeshop is attached to it.” By the way, one never gets used to the aroma of freshly baked breads and pastries.“Corsicana is a business-friendly town with a city council willing to work with businesses to bring them here,” says Crawford. “And thanks to our police chief who is also a connected actor [Robert Johnson], we’ve had signi cant Hollywood interest, with three or four movies having already been made here.” e crossing of two major railroads — today’s Union Paci c and Burlington Northern Santa Fe — was a big boon to Collin Street Bakery, both directly and indirectly, adds Crawford. “ e railroad brought in rapid growth of population and potential demand for our product. And it provided access to materials being shipped in, and to our product being shipped out.”Where Team Uniforms Are Made Liebe’s storied history in Corsicana dates to , when the supplier of printed sports jerseys was launched by Robert Liebe and his wife in their home in St. Louis. By ,the small business attracted so much attention that Liebe signed a deal with Rawlings Sporting Goods to handle lettering needs for all their uniforms.(He also designed uniforms for the St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Cardinals and for many colleges and universities, as well as the American Basketball Association). Vin ex, the rst fusible high gloss vinyl lm, and Poly Pro Twill®, a shrink-free fabric made by the Webster Fabric division of the company that’s still used today by major uniform brands, are other innovations that marked the ensuing decades at Liebe. In , Liebe purchased American Classic Out tters (ACO) in Perry, New York. As with by MARK ARENDmar k .ar end@ site s ele c tion.c om128 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO Nby MARK ARENDINVESTMENT PROFILE:CORSICANA, TEXAS1010101020202030303535353545454545WacoDallasFortWorthHoustonSan AntonioAustinCORSICANALiebe, ACO has a rich history in custom athletic uniforms — it’s been the design andmanufacturing partner for many oftoday’s top brands. In , Liebe purchased Dalco Athletic ofGarland, a manufacturer and supplier ofreferee and umpire gear, and established an additional manufacturing facility in Corsicana.In , both facilities consolidated under one roof in Corsicana. e ,-sq.-ft. facility provides garment and uniform decoration, as well as manufacturing capabilities, in the heart of Texas.Liebe’s Mike Bernhagen, general manager, says the company took advantage of the Texas PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) incentive that allows property owners to upgrade facility infrastructure at little or no expense. Owners can lower their operating costs and use the savings to pay for eligible water conservation, energy e ciency, resiliency and distributed generation projects. Corsicana also makes incentives available to companies investing in its industrial parks. ese include no-cost land grants and loans, Texas Capital Fund grants and Enterprise Zone refunds, skills development grants and tax abatement programs.“ e major sporting goods brands we do business with — Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour — are requiring Liebe to be an environmentally friendly, globally responsible partner,” says Berghagen. “ e PACE program allowed us to out t the new Corsicana location with high e ciency lighting and energy solutions, thus becoming even more desirable to our partners.”Room to Keep GrowingWhen a location delivers the kind of sales and growth potential Polyguard is enjoying, you stay put and expand. at’s what the employee-owned manufacturer of specialized products that protect surfaces and structures from moisture did. In , it purchased a ,-sq.-ft. facility in Corsicana and moved most of its production there in May . Polyguard Products has achieved top-line sales growth for consecutive years, says Shawn Eastham, president, citing his main reason for expanding in town.“We needed a larger facility that would give us room for our existing production and for our future growth.Corsicana is miles from our headquarters, and it allowed us to have a smooth transition without having to relocate any of our employee owners. Deciding to expand our operation by relocating to Corsicana was absolutely the right decision.We’re close enough to Dallas to be near its two major airports, but we don’t have the big city commute.We plan on doubling in size over the next ve to six years and are happy to be in a location where we can do that.”Besides the hour’s drive to DFW International or Dallas Love Field airports, Eastham points to three more reasons the Corsicana location is so e ective. “Housing is less expensive for our employees, which gives them a better quality of life. e city bent over backwards to make our transition a success.And Navarro College is a great resource for providing training to our current employee owners. I can foresee that many generations of Navarro graduates will be employed at Polyguard.” projects. Corsicana also makes incentives available to companies investing in its industrial We plan on doubling in size over the next ve to six years and are happy to be in a location where we can do that.”— Shawn Eastham, President, Polyguard Products S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 129 is Investment Pro le was prepared under the auspices of the City of Corsicana’s Economic Development Department. For more information, contact City Manager Connie Standridge at --. On the web, visit www.cityofcorsicana.org.Detail Area Shown130 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NJD Enright speaks of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency mining in geostrategic terms, like the Defense Department specialist he once was. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Enright spent a decade in military research and development with government institutions including DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. is year, Enright founded TMGcore, a Houston-based enterprise that’s bringing industrial-scale cryptocurrency mining to Texas.“We are now at our own generation’s Sputnik moment,” Enright, , tells Site Selection.Bitcoin is by and large made in China, speci cally by Bitmain, a state-backed technology company. Bitmain manufactures and operates most of the machines that crunch the math problems that create Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.“Bitmain supplies percent of all the air-cooled mining technology on the planet,” says Enright. “ ey ST A TE SPO TLIGHTTexasJD Enright, CEO, TMGcore S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 131TwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangTwangCryptocurrency made in America springs from a huge data center in Plano — even as a Chinese rival sets up shop just down the road.by G ARY DAUGHTERSgar y.daug hter s @ site s ele c tion.c 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SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO Nalso control percent of the total hashing power for the Bitcoin blockchain. As an American, I have a problem with that. It’s time for America to step up and play our role. If you think about the space race, once the U.S. woke up, we put a man on the moon. And in the process we generated trillions of dollars in innovation and jobs and wealth around the world. Today, trillions of dollars are being generated by blockchain, and we have a responsibility globally to get o the sidelines. at means investment in American ingenuity.”TMGcore in June announced that it had commenced occupancy and cryptomining operations in a Class A, Tier III facility deep in the heart of America. Commercial real estate services rm CBRE represented the company and its top investor, Pinchal & Company, in the acquisition of a $ -million data center in Plano, outside Dallas. At more than , sq. ft. ( , sq. m.) and capable of a -megawatt live power load, TMGcore’s mining operation will be one of the largest such facilities in the United States. Built by Dallas-based Skybox Data Centers, the facility in Plano is owned by Pinchal & Company, with TMGcore having signed a long-term lease. “Blockchain,” says CBRE’s Haynes Strader, “is having a signi cant impact on real estate around North America, primarily related to cryptomining operations. As we look at what’s happening around the United States, there’s been a big focus on central Washington state. is is the rst major deployment that we’ve seen in Texas. If they hit the scale they’re talking about — at least up to megawatts and potentially up to megawatts — that will be a massive deployment.“From a cryptocurrency perspective,” says Strader, “if we want to see cryptocurrencies be China’s Bitmain this summer pledged to invest $500 million and create 400 jobs in a bitcoin mining and data center operation at Alcoa’s former smelter site in Rockdale. Photo courtesy of Icon Global Group(Continued on page )136 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NWhen CNBC announced on July 10 that Texas ranked rst in the annual Top States for Business list for 2018, it was but the latest in a string of victories for The Lone Star State.Site Selection named Texas the winner of the magazine’s annual Governor’s Cup competition for the sixth year in a row in March — a ranking based on the total number of corporate facility investment projects accrued during the preceding full calendar year. Dr. Ray Perryman, economist and founder of The Perryman Group in Waco, commented after the Governor’s Cup win that “the state’s success is due to a spectrum of bene ts to potential locating companies. At the most basic level, Texas has resources — a large and growing population, oil and gas, a coastline favorable to shipping, abundant land, a relatively moderate climate, and a central location. All of these characteristics provide opportunities.”Opportunity and success, however, are two different things. While other states may squander opportunity, Texas seems to revel in cashing in on the chance to beat other states to the punch.A case in point is commercial real estate development. According to a recent report from NAIOP — the National Association of Industrial and Of ce Properties — Texas led all states in 2017 in total direct development impact on GDP. The total value of direct construction spending in Texas last year on of ce, industrial, warehouse and retail combined was $24.38 billion, while total output (contribution to GDP) was $58.9 billion. Texas also created and supported the most jobs generated by commercial real estate construction, at 379,781.By comparison, California created 333,817 jobs and contributed a total output of $52.69 billion, ranking second to Texas in both categories, according to NAIOP.Renewable Talent Base, Renewable PowerPerryman says Texas is poised to dominate the U.S. economy for years to come, due to several underlying factors, Where Does Texas Go From Here?Next >