Get On the Bus for The Best of Texas

ongwriter Paul Simon put it simply: “Hop on the bus, Gus.” So did novelist Ken Kesey: “You’re either on the bus or you’re off the bus.”

A bus tour announced in June by Day One Experts, in partnership with Texas Economic Development Connection and TAC Brokerage and Consultant, exclusively invites international Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) Institute members to explore the vibrant economic landscape and cultural richness of Texas via “The Best of Texas Bus Tour” October 1-5, 2024.

The concept has worked well for the Revolution organization led by Steve Case as part of its “Rise of the Rest” efforts to show investors startup energy and innovation away from the coasts. And it comes on the heels of this summer’s SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland, designed to whet the appetite of international investors.

“Participants will engage with top economic developers, community leaders, and industry innovators,” the announcement stated, as they traverse the Gulf Coast, Upper East Texas, the DFW Metroplex, and Central Texas with highlights that include visits to the new TI chip manufacturing plant, Toyota headquarters and various cultural sites. In a sense, it combines the best of a profession (CCIM certified) with the best of economic development: Texas and its metros have ranked at or near the top for many years in Site Selection’s annual Governor’s Cups, Top Metros and other rankings.

“This tour is more than just a sightseeing trip; it’s a deep dive into the economic heart of Texas,” said Super Dave Quinn, CEO of Day One Experts. “We’re thrilled to offer this unique opportunity to CCIM members, providing them firsthand knowledge of Texas’ potential for business expansion and investment.”

TexasEDConnection member communities (see a full directory on p. 97) know a thing or two about business expansion and investment. Approximately 30 towns, counties and metro areas belong to the organization dedicated to matching small to medium-sized businesses with Texas towns and cities. A search of those communities in Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database — which qualifies corporate end-user facility location and expansion projects by capital investment (at least $1 million), new jobs created (at least 20) or new square footage (at least 20,000) — found more than 60 projects had landed in TexasEDConnection territories since January 2023.

For those whose details are available, the sum total of those investments is well over $1.6 billion.

Consider this document an unfolded road map to local prosperity.

Texans Like Keeping Score
Anyone familiar with the Lone Star State knows how they love their sports. In that spirit, here’s the project scoreboard report for TexasEDConnection communities:

Top performers Coppell and Wylie are part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area that also includes TexasEDConnection towns of Melissa, Rowlett and Sanger, bringing the metro’s project tally to 11 overall.

But the borderzone community of Laredo tops them all by a long shot with 20 projects, most of them in that small to medium-sized sweet spot befitting a region of 267,000 people — a total that jumps to more than 667,000 when you consider the folks in the sister city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico just across the border. And consider them is exactly what the Laredo Economic Development Corporation does:

“Known locally as Los Dos Laredos, Laredo and Nuevo Laredo are actually one city divided only by the Rio Grande,” the LEDC website explains. “Originally settled by the Spaniards in 1755, Laredo/Nuevo Laredo became the first ‘official’ Port of Entry on the U.S./Mexico border in 1851. Now, the Laredo Customs District handles more trade than the ports of Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas combined.”

Transport infrastructure converging in and emanating from Laredo only makes its case stronger: “Laredo is the only U.S./Mexico border city strategically positioned at the convergence of all land transportation systems,” says the LEDC. “Mexico’s principal highway and railroad leading from Central America through Mexico City, Saltillo, and Monterrey, the industrial heart of Mexico, converge at Laredo to meet two major U.S. rail lines, Interstate 35 and other roads which fan outwards to the urban centers and seaports of Texas and beyond.”

The largest projects in the area since January 2023 are a $22 million, 100-job investment from Missouri-based Mid-Continent Steel & Wire and a $30 million, 30-job distribution facility from Charlotte-based RXO. Fittingly, Mid-Continent, one of the nation’s largest producers of nails and agricultural fencing, is owned by Deacero, a family-owned company that got its start in a small warehouse in Monterrey, Mexico, about a 2.5-hour drive from Laredo.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appeared at the ribbon-cutting for the company’s Macro Hub in August 2023.

“Governor Abbott’s robust, pro-growth economic agenda has helped our company grow and prosper and we appreciate it greatly,” said Fernando Villanueva, CEO of Mid-Continent. “As a result, we’re able to expand both investments and jobs in Texas in a way that contributes to the strengthening of value chains, as well as to the generation of a resilient, inclusive and competitive economic region.”

The facility serves as a strategic logistics point where steel production/manufacturing from plants in several regions is consolidated, offering a broad portfolio of products in a single delivery, Mid-Continent said. “It will deliver to 45 U.S. states, with 40% of all shipments within Texas. The traffic of 2,600 monthly inbound and outbound trips will generate business/revenue for local and regional suppliers.” The company said it had already formed strategic alliances with nearly 60 trucking companies, among other businesses.

“When you look at the size of this facility,” said Gov. Abbott, “it shows you what is needed to keep up with the size of demand for the steel and fencing products made and distributed here. This is spurred by the growth we have in Texas, and steel plays an important role in the building of the future of our state … Laredo plays a pivotal role for Texas ranking No. 1 for exports in the United States for 21 years in a row. This facility will help add to that trade.”

Kilgore Is Here
Among the six projects landing in Kilgore (part of the Longview metro area) were multiple investments totaling $43 million and 97 jobs from locally based fishing boat builder Skeeter Products, in business for more than 75 years. Also investing in Kilgore is Longview-based Keeprite Refrigeration, which has committed to a $53 million, 50-job project in Synergy Park, where the company broke ground at a 70-acre site in June. It’s the same park where New Jersey–based Camfil is investing $67 million and planning to create 226 jobs over the contract term at a 420,000-sq.-ft. facility on 45 acres.

As James Wright, the Marine Corps veteran who serves as directly of real estate and development for Kilgore Economic Development Corporation, stated on LinkedIn, “When you bring investment and jobs into your community, the only thing that can be more exciting is doing 2 projects at the same time!”

Keeprite first considered relocating to Kilgore in 2017 but grew in place in Longview instead. Now it aims to occupy as much as 1 million sq. ft. in Synergy Park. The company has grown from 18 employees at its founding in 2008 to more than 150 today, a number that will surpass 200 as the relocation and expansion ensues. “The City of Kilgore and Kilgore College initially awarded abatement incentives to Tersco Property Management / Keeprite Refrigeration,” the announcement stated. “Gregg County joined in with more rebate-based tax incentives last fall, moving the project forward. Even with tax incentives in place, the project is still poised to generate an estimated $10.8 million in property tax revenue in the coming decade from the company’s expansion.”

The company chose three employees to turn the dirt at ceremonies in June. “I think it says a lot about this company that all their employees are here for this groundbreaking,” Kilgore Mayor Ronnie Spradlin said at the groundbreaking, according to a report in the Kilgore News Herald. “I’ve never this many employees come to a groundbreaking before. Kilgore is so very proud to have Keeprite located here.”

The city can also be proud of Kilgore EDC, which days later announced it had received the Texas Economic Development Council’s 2024 Workforce Excellence Award for communities with populations under 15,000, which recognizes exceptional workforce initiatives by Texas communities.

“Kilgore College’s Advanced Manufacturing & Industrial Technologies program and the creation of their Transportation Institute exemplify a commitment to meeting industry’s evolving needs,” said KEDC Executive Director Lisa Denton, who noted the partnership of her colleagues at Longview Economic Development Corporation. “Additionally, the Health Science Center, established through a public-private partnership with the City, Kilgore College, and Christus Good Shepherd, underscores our community’s dedication to enhancing health care education and services.”

Upon completion, Subaru of America’s multi-purpose expansion project in Coppell, Texas, will total 500,600 sq. ft., including 30,000 sq. ft. of new office space (Dallas Business Center), and a 170,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its existing regional distribution center.
Photo courtesy of Subaru of America

Coppell
Grabbing headlines among the five qualifying projects in Coppell over the past year is the choice announced in May by New Jersey–based Subaru of America to expand its operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and grow its workforce by relocating its Central Region office and establishing a new customer support center. The automaker’s new Dallas Business Center will be co-located with its existing distribution and training facility as part of a 200,000-sq.-ft. expansion project with Prologis.

Subaru said the Dallas Business Center (DBC) will serve as a second location for the Subaru Customer Advocacy Department (CAD). Around 30,000 sq. ft. of office space, the car company said, “will be dedicated to the automaker’s Central Region sales and marketing operations, currently located in Itasca, Illinois, along with the Dallas-Fort Worth Zone office. With an estimated 100 employees, the new DBC will be one of the largest SOA team locations after its headquarters in Camden, New Jersey.”

In addition to expanded distribution space, the automaker’s existing Quality & Service Area Training Center, used to train Subaru retailers’ technicians and Subaru field service personnel, “will gain an additional classroom as part of the expansion to better support Subaru University (Subaru-U) and its local secondary and post-secondary automotive vocational initiatives.”

The I-35 bridge is shown at dusk as it is illuminated and reflects on the Brazos River in Waco.
Photo by John McQuiston: Getty Images

Waco
Waco’s four projects since 2023 may rank it fourth in total projects in this exercise, but it has snared the biggest kahuna of all, a planned $1 billion, 230-job recycled paperboard facility slated to ramp up production in 2026 and modeled after the company’s successful machine in Kalamazoo, Michigan that reached full capacity in 2023 just one year after coming online.

Graphic Packaging CEO Mike Doss visited the Waco site last September and joined a team of leaders in signing the first piece of structural steel to be hung at the new facility — one of 2,600 pieces of steel required. “The main driver for the move is the end-use consumer,” Doss said. “They’re concerned about landfills filling up and pollution in general, and we take those concerns very seriously. We’re responding with big investments in our coated recycled paperboard mill in Kalamazoo, and now this new greenfield mill in Waco.”

The company said Waco was selected due to its “centric location in the Texas triangle. Situated within 200 miles of approximately 80% of the Texas population, the new mill will enjoy access to a strong supply of recycled fiber material from urban centers in the region. Graphic Packaging specializes in turning fiber into coated recycled board (CRB).

“Today, a large percentage of our paperboard waste that we cannot recycle is exported,” Doss said. “Our Waco mill is designed to enable the recycling of 100% of our own internally generated paperboard side rolls and waste.” 

When complete, the cutting-edge facility will be able to recycle fiber from up to 15 million paper cups a day, the company said, boosting Graphic Packaging’s capacity to offer high-quality recycled paperboard to customers across the U.S. “I know this facility is going to be a great part of the Waco community,” Doss said. “It’ll help support that shift in society towards a circular economy — and that’s really exciting for us.”
 

TEXARKANA CROSSROADS

Positioned at the intersection of four states, Texarkana is also positioned for building on the success that has recently brought the region investments from such companies as New Hampshire-based Maverick Pipe ($20 million, 40 jobs), Pennsylvania-based rubber product manufacturer Palmer International ($10 million, 15 jobs) and Rowe Casa Organics.

A catalyst for that positioning is TexAmericas Center, located on the combined footprint of the former Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant, which closed in 2005, and the Red River Army Depot, which is still an active military installation. The Center in January received a $1.5 million grant from the Texas Military Preparedness Commission’s (TMPC) Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant (DEAAG) program to enhance logistics capabilities at Red River. That news came on the heels of a new partnership with Texas A&M University-Texarkana that will allow employees of tenant businesses to receive discounted tuition towards classes at the university.

Last year, TAC launched its Qualified Sites Program (QSP) that is intended to “improve on its brand promise of speed-to-market and Speed-to-Profit for companies interested in locating on its 12,000-acre industrial park in Northeast Texas.” Two sites are in position:

The 67-acre Alamo Site is a near-shovel-ready, rail-served, greenfield development site situated on the TexAmericas Center East Campus (TAC East). “The Alamo Site provides not only convenient rail access, spotting and storage for companies that need it, but also easy access to multiple utilities and logistics options — both Union Pacific (UP) rail and major Interstates — as well as suitable soil for construction with the capacity to accommodate larger industrial development projects,” said TexAmericas CEO Scott Norton.

The 22-acre Duke East Site is a shovel-ready, rail-served, greenfield development site also situated on the TexAmericas Center East Campus (TAC East) that, like the Alamo site, used to be a wooded buffer area. The site can accommodate a rail-served building of between 250,000 and 350,000 sq. ft.

Please click on image to view a high resolution pdf.

For more information about  the Best of Texas Bus Tour and to register, CCIM members should visit d1experts.com/texas-tour.