Local Development Authority Reaches Major Milestone

TexAmericas Center is proud to announce that it recently leased it’s one millionth square foot of commercial and industrial real estate. The addition of a storage facility for a leading U.S.-based manufacturer of cost-effective and reliable solar tracking systems helped TAC reach this milestone. The 1,043,536 square feet of total leased property is a 79% increase since May 2014 when TAC first started tracking occupancy rates.

“That’s almost double the space that was leased six years ago,” says Eric Voyles, EVP and Chief Economic Development Officer for TexAmericas Center. “We’ve grown the amount of leased buildings on our property by 463,101 square feet. Growing the leased square footage is great, but the job creation has also been impressive. We’ve seen a 55% increase in the number of non-RRAD jobs on our property over the same time frame.”

TexAmericas Center is one of the largest mixed-use industrial parks in the United States, with 12,000 acres and 3 million square feet of commercial and industrial product in northeast Texas. As a State of Texas Local Redevelopment Authority, TexAmericas Center was created to redevelop land and facilities formerly belonging to Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant, with the primary goal of bringing quality jobs to the greater Texarkana area.

When asked how the organization was able to reach this milestone Scott Norton, CEO for the organization said, “It is our Can-Do approach. We focus on speed-to-market. Because we are a redevelopment authority, we handle our own zoning and building permits. That makes us unique. We can review and approve building and site plans in days as opposed to weeks.”

An additional unique feature that TexAmericas Center offers is incentive management. “We are a one-stop shop. Our staff is your ombudsman for utilities, development, training, and incentives.” TAC is in a federal Opportunity Zone, Foreign Trade Zone, HUBZone, and Texas Enterprise Zone. This mix of incentives combined with other state incentives gives TAC and its tenants a competitive advantage.

TexAmericas Center’s success has primarily been predicated upon having existing buildings that could be rehabilitated and reoccupied to create jobs. There is still about 440,000 square feet of existing buildings that are designated for redevelopment, and about 52,000 square feet remaining of current, move in-ready space. The 440,000 square feet is predominantly specialized energetics use and smaller buildings of about 11,500 square feet. To continue to be successful, TexAmericas Center will now focus on build-to-suit options in addition to redeveloping the remaining existing buildings.