Texas Takes High-Tech Hit

Texas has shared in the national economic downturn. But most observers believe measures aimed at increasing security along the border will bolster the state in the long run.
        With an estimated 460,000 jobs in high-tech industries according to the American Electronics Association, Texas ranks No. 2 in the U.S. The sector's swoon cost the state an estimated 3,000 jobs in 2001, a pace which led the nation.
        In her forecast for the second half of 2002 and 2003, Texas state comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander, says things are "looking up" for the Texas economy. She projects real gross state product growth to be 2.1 percent this year. Rylander predicts growth of 4.6 percent in 2003, fueled by low interest rates and federal spending in Texas related to 9/11.
        Jeff Ellerman, senior vice president of The Staubach Co. in Dallas, says as the economy softened, particularly in the technology and telecom sectors, a "glut of space" has been created in the Dallas office market.
        "The market is soft and difficult in Dallas and the Southwest," Ellerman says. "We're still doing build-to-suits. There's an abundance of relatively inexpensive land. Once firms get to be a certain size, 100,000 square feet [93,000 sq. m.] or larger, it becomes attractive to have their own building which give them an identity."
        Among recent relocations to the Dallas area is the move of Kinko's headquarters to 100,000 square feet of an office tower in January. Kinko's, previously headquartered in Ventura, Calif., chose the north Texas site for its "centralized location, favorable business environment, lower total cost of doing business, competitive tax structure and decreased travel costs and time," company officials said.
        Cerilliant Corp., a provider of analytical reference materials, moved its corporate headquarters to Round Rock in June. Formerly headquartered in Austin, Cerilliant has grown rapidly over the past two years and outgrew its original facility.