I-35 Corridor Picks Up 600K SF In Industrial Space
The Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio will add another 600K SF of speculative industrial space with the approval of a local incentive deal Buda and Hays County have signed with Exeter Property Group.
Pennsylvania-based Exeter Property Group focuses on industrial property and distribution hubs. Earlier this year, Exeter closed on a $200M shipping hub for UPS, in North Texas, also supplemented by a local incentive agreement with Arlington.
The Buda industrial project will be on 30 acres east of the US Foods facility. And it will be the first spec industrial space in Buda, according to the Buda EDC. Exeter Buda Land L.P. expects to begin construction of the first 300K SF in early 2018. Exeter expects to invest between $7M and $14M in the first phase of the development.
“Exeter has been interested in development [of] an industrial and distribution complex in the Austin-San Antonio corridor, and we are excited about the potential the Buda site possesses,” Exeter principal Barney Sinclair said in a statement released once the two incentive packages were approved. “Given the nature of businesses that typically lease facilities like this one, it was especially vital that Triple Freeport was recently approved. This helped bring the Buda property to the top of the list of potential sites.”
Triple Freeport takes taxes off inventory that leaves the state within 175 days. The term “triple” means the city, county and school district have agreed to take the inventory off the tax rolls. The Hays Consolidated Independent School District rejected a similar proposal in 1989.
Incentives were approved under Chapter 381 of the Texas tax code, which authorizes county industrial commissions for midsize counties. Buda will rebate funds for infrastructure and at the point when the first client is secured. Hays County will rebate a portion of property taxes.
The maximum amount of the tax incentives will be $125,000 for both city and county. According to the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, freeport exemptions prevented about $30.3B from being put in Texas school district tax rolls in 2016, about 1% of the state's total market value.
