TEXARKANA - More than 800 acres recently purchased is a good start, but regional economic development group AR-TX REDI wants more land that major employers can build on, CEO Rob Sitterley said Thursday.
A partnership comprising REDI, the cities of Hooks and New Boston, and Bowie County, Texas, recently committed $1.5 million to purchase 847 acres of land near Red River Army Depot with frontage on Interstate 30. Dubbed the East Texas Logistics Center, the tract "seems like a perfect fit" for a distribution center for companies such as Walmart and Amazon, Sitterley said.
The next step is a certification process meant to uncover and then remedy any problems with the land, which will give businesses confidence to spend tens of millions of dollars developing it. The plan is to incentivize a company to build there by giving the tract away.
REDI is developing a marketing plan for the land and plans to ensure businesses nationwide know that it is available.
Though such logistics centers are increasingly automated, they would still add hundreds of new, high-wage jobs - many having to do with technology - to the region's economy, and Texarkana's colleges and universities are a "talent pipeline" poised to provide the needed workforce, Sitterley said.
Having shovel-ready land available for industry is essential to the region's economic growth.
"We have to have property that is in our ownership and has already been secured and is ready to go for projects. Because when projects actually call, they don't want to wait. They don't want to hear, 'Well, we think we can piece together 500 acres or 200 acres,' or whatever the number may be. They want to know you have it and you're in control of it, that you've run all the traps on it, that it makes sense for them to come and invest," Sitterley said.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled much of the nation's economy, it has provided REDI time to "catch up" with other nearby communities, such as Longview, Texas, and Magnolia, Arkansas, which already have industrial sites to offer, Sitterley said. And the pandemic has caused demand among businesses to operate in areas such as the Texarkana region that have low population density, where disease outbreaks are less likely.
AR-TEX REDI was formed in spring 2018 with the aim of bringing new business and jobs to the greater Texarkana region. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made a rare joint appearance that September in Texarkana to show support for REDI's mission. Sitterley was hired as CEO in January 2019.