TexAmericas East gets natural gas supplier

TexAmericas Center
TexAmericas Center

Navitas Utilities Corp., will be the primary natural-gas provider for TexAmericas Center-East tenants.

The new partnership will allow TexAmericas to offer a reliable natural-gas supply for the first time to current tenants on their East Campus and will greatly aid in attracting new industries to the footprint, according to a press release.

The TexAmericas Board of Directors voted to approve the contract last month.

The newly formed Texas subsidiary of Navitas Assets, operated by Navitas Utilities Corp., will own and operate a local natural-gas distribution company serving TexAmericas Center East, its newest industrial park.

The state of Texas consumes more natural gas than any other state and accounts for about one-fifth of total U.S. natural gas consumption.

Subsequently, the absence of natural gas on the East Campus has been a detriment to TexAmericas Center's business development and attraction activities, officials said. The approval of this contract will essentially solve one of the largest issues that TexAmericas has faced in creating jobs for the region.

"Securing natural gas for TexAmericas Center is a strategic and necessary move for the future growth of TexAmericas Center," said Scott Norton, CEO/Executive Director of TexAmericas Center. "With this infrastructure in place, we are more attractive and competitive than ever to industries that are heavy gas users, ultimately positioning us to have a better chance of winning more projects and creating new jobs for the region."

TexAmericas Center is the entry point into the state of Texas for Navitas. The company has been actively growing its service area and customer base, most recently including a major expansion of their Albany, Ky., system consisting of a 9-mile extension to an industrial facility in 2015.

Navitas' experience will come into play as they begin immediate plans to construct a 15,000-linear-foot pipeline at TexAmericas East, servicing Expal USA.

As part of the contract agreement, TexAmericas will aid in construction of the pipeline by providing $389,000 in funding to offset some of the project's cost, the press release states.

Funds for this CIAC will come from the Texas Capital Fund Grant that Bowie County announced in November 2016-resulting from the Expal USA project, which included a $24 million investment, 80 jobs created and the reactivation of 80,000 square feet of facility space.

TexAmericas Center currently has an interlocal agreement with Bowie County to perform the work outlined in the $750,000 TCF Grant; other funds from the grant have been utilized to pay for the administrative fees, engineering services and additional electrical infrastructure for the Expal USA site.

"The addition of natural gas onto (TexAmericas') footprint through this partnership with Navitas will put us one step closer to offering more shovel-ready property-similar to our TEDC designated STAR Site on the Central Campus," said Eric Voyles, Executive Vice President/ CEDO. "Having all of the essential infrastructure in place provides our clients speed to market, thus speed to profit."

Navitas' strategy is to develop a concentration of users on systems in rural areas that involve shorter runs of piping, which connect to limited, local industrial or municipal customer bases. TexAmericas Center's focus on attracting heavy users of natural gas through competitive service pricing and the provision of additional, in-demand attributes of large-scale industrial users blends well with Navitas' business development philosophy.

Navitas will establish an initial small service center on the TexAmericas Center footprint occupying less than one half of an acre, with plans to grow into a fully staffed operation.

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