New Spec Building Part of TexAmericas Center’s Plan to Seize Opportunities | Trade and Industry Development

New Spec Building Part of TexAmericas Center’s Plan to Seize Opportunities

Nov 15, 2021

TexAmericas Center, located near the Texas-Arkansas border along Interstate 30, owns and operates one of the largest mixed-use industrial complexes in Texas. With 12,000 development-ready acres, 3.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial product, and 36-miles of rail, the organization is a catalyst for industry development, business opportunity, and job creation.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the organization has seen tremendous growth largely thanks to its forward thinking and diverse offerings for tenants.

“Growth, stability, and ambition are mainstays of this organization,” said Scott Norton, CEO and Executive Director of TexAmericas Center. “Our focus on constant improvement and ongoing innovation has become the foundation that lets tenants’ profitability soar.”

TexAmericas Center leadership have been particularly strategic about setting the industrial park up for success through its own construction efforts, acquisitions, and permit management.

In the past year, the company announced the construction of a 150,000 square foot speculative building that is now turnkey ready for businesses to move into.

Leaders worked with other community economic development professionals to plan the building, which includes features that are attractive to potential tenants, is flexible across a variety of industries, and scalable to meet a host of needs. The building is designed as a multitenant, mixed-use facility with 32-foot clear height ceilings, one dock door per 5,000 square feet, and two drive-in doors. The building will accommodate uses like large warehousing inventory akin to what you would find in a large metro market, but with the capability to subdivide down to 13,000-square-foot units as needed.

Getting to the point of construction was deliberate and well-timed.

“Looking back at the third and fourth quarters of 2019, we knew there was going to be industry demand for the space. We saw it coming,” said Eric Voyles, Executive Vice President and Chief Economic Development Officer for TexAmericas Center. “Despite the pandemic, we moved forward with those plans and now the spec building brings immediate value to our economy and region at a time that it is so needed.”

Tenants that use the spec building can take advantage of the impressive transportation corridor that includes multiple state highways, interstates, air freight, and rail lines. Additionally, new companies have access to skilled workers from a wide range of schools in the Texarkana area.

The spec building is just one more major accomplishment in a series of successes for TexAmericas Center.

Earlier in 2021, TexAmericas Center successfully completed remediating 6,800 acres of land through the United States Army’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit. The comprehensive remediation efforts began in 2010 and required a lengthy process to ensure all standards and assurances were met correctly and completely. Now, the nearly 7,000 acres of shovel-ready land can be complemented by other attractive features, including the spec building.

Meanwhile in 2021, the company was awarded an $864,550 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to construct new rail facilities and repair existing ones. The grant is expected to create more than 150 jobs and expand operations within the TexAmericas Center footprint.

TexAmericas Center is fulfilling its mission as a catalyst of economic investment in the Texarkana region. In the past year, nine new businesses relocated to TexAmericas Center, showing a 17 percent increase compared to the previous year, bringing 60 new jobs to the region, according to a 2021 tenant census report. Additionally, the industrial park held a 74 percent retention rate among current businesses through the pandemic. Of those companies, 10 of them added 75 new jobs, with one company growing new jobs by 133 percent.
 

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