During a virtual news conference recently with regional, statewide, and national leaders, TexAmericas Center announced that thousands of acres have been successfully remediated to meet commercial and industrial standards. The video news conference can be viewed here.
Official action by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality removed the United States Army’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit from the property and opens up more than 6,800 acres of additional ground to be transactable for development, making them ready for job-generating uses.
“This is a major milestone in the history of this organization and our region. It paves the way to advance opportunities that generate investments, create quality jobs, and diversify the region’s tax base,” said Scott Norton, Executive Director/CEO, TexAmericas Center. “Removing this RCRA permit has been a long, but critical, process to ensure the availability of quality sites for our current and future tenants.”
The almost-7,000 acres of land represented a portion of the former Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant property, which necessitated environmental remediation before development could be approved. The comprehensive remediation, which began in 2010 and was recently completed, required a lengthy process to ensure all standards and assurances were met correctly and completely. This announcement complements a 2015 announcement in which 2,000 acres were removed from the same RCRA permit. In total, TexAmericas Center now has over 12,000 acres of transactable property.
The amount of land this opens for development is significant. To put it into perspective, 6,800 acres is the same approximate size as 5,142 football fields, 7.5 times the size of Central Park, 40 times bigger than Disneyland, or 65 times bigger than the Mall of America. More than 2 million parking spaces can fit into 6,800 acres. Accordingly, the availability of this amount of land opens up opportunities for the largest players in almost any industry.
In recent years, TexAmericas Center and its redevelopment partners have invested more than $40 million in remediation activities and improved infrastructure to advance job and capital creation the region. These investments, combined with these 6,800 acres of shovel-ready land, further enhance the organization’s offerings, capabilities, and services for businesses seeking to grow or relocate. TexAmericas Center and the region’s features that are attractive to potential businesses include:
- New 150,000-square-foot spec building that will be completed summer of 2021
- Enhanced fiberoptic lines
- A new, onsite $200 million water treatment plant that is funded and will soon be under construction
- Area’s robust transportation system
- Region’s low cost and abundant sources of power
- New airport terminal and pending flight expansions
- TexAmericas Center’s third-party logistics services division
- Expansion of training options at all local universities and colleges, which includes seven institutions of higher education within 30 miles of TexAmericas Center
TexAmericas Center has built significant momentum with recent recognitions and announcements. In 2020, TexAmericas Center was ranked as the No. 8 industrial park in the country by Business Facilities magazine. It is one of the largest mixed-use industrial parks in the country, and a designated US Opportunity Zone, HUBZone, and Foreign Trade Zone. Current tenants include transportation equipment, oil and gas pipe, warehousing, construction, and supplement manufacturing industries. TAC is also equipped to serve a range of industries such as primary and fabricated metals, alternative energy, paper and wood products, chemicals, rubber products, defense, cement, and heavy equipment.
In November, TexAmericas Center broke ground on a new speculative (spec) building to support future tenants relocating to, or growing in, the Texarkana region. The 150,000-square-foot building on 24 acres will be ready for new tenants in the summer of 2021 and is the first new building in the industrial park in 15 years.
TexAmericas Center continues to be a catalyst of significant economic investment in the Texarkana region. Since May 2014, TexAmericas Center has increased its total leased square footage by more than 85% to more than 1 million square feet. Its 12,000 acres and 3.5 million square feet of space is fully entitled, providing potential tenants of specialized industries options that would be difficult or cost-prohibitive to secure in other regions.
“Today’s announcement builds on the momentum generated from years of efforts to position our region for growth,” said Eric Voyles, Executive Vice President and Chief Economic Development Officer with TexAmericas Center. “This is truly a game-changer for our community, our current tenants, and businesses that wish to call this area their home in the future.”