TEXARKANA - TexAmericas Center broke ground Wednesday on a 150,000 square-foot building on 24 acres, the industrial park's first new building in 15 years.
"Wish we could be doing this in the traditional sense," said Scott Norton, executive director and CEO of TexAmericas Center, referring to COVID complications at this time. Norton said the building would bring immediate value to the region, promoting sustained business activity.
"A 'spec' building allows us to offer potential tenants the type of facility and features in demand without the time and expense of a custom contract," Norton said. "It's like, 'if you build it, they will come' investment in the future of our region."
Though this is the first new structure in 15 years, Jim Roberts, TexAmericas Center chairman, said it is not for lack of business activity.
"All our existing infrastructure was sufficient to accommodate our clients' needs thus far," he said.
But that is changing.
"We don't want to miss out on having the opportunity to land a company to the area that doesn't have time to wait for a facility such as this to be designed and built," Norton said.
From 2014 to 2019, TexAmericas Center has seen leased space go up by 85%. "$1.6 million has been spent on building improvements alone," Norton said. "This new space is designed to be scalable, subdivideable. It is designed with the future in mind."
(TexAmericas is located about 20 miles west of Texarkana.)