EDPCT Celebrates Regional Relocations

With the December 2008 announcements of Caterpillar planning a major facility in Seguin (Click Governor’s News Release) and HEB expanding their distribution center in San Marcos, the Tri-City Area is set to see additional jobs and capital investment expand.

The Economic Development Partnership of Central Texas (EDPCT) began in 2004 to leverage the primary job and wealth creation efforts of New Braunfels, Seguin and San Marcos.  During the April 2008 trade mission to Cleveland, BUILD NB staff spoke with HEB Distribution Center representatives regarding the possibility of an expansion of their facility in San Marcos.  Last month, HEB announced that that they would more than double the warehouse size in San Marcos, making it HEB’s largest warehouse to serve its 280 stores. The multi-million dollar expansion deal consists of HEB building 750,000 square feet of new building space and creating 320 new full-time, permanent jobs with health benefits. For more information about the expansion, view the news release here.

In addition, BUILD NB staff was asked by Seguin officials last month to help cement the state’s incentive investment in the Caterpillar location.  Caterpillar, Inc, a Fortune 50 company, will move one of its primary global assembly, test and paint facilities to Texas, creating more than 1400 jobs. In late December, Representative-Elect Doug Miller was very helpful in working with the state leadership on finalizing the Texas Enterprise Fund incentives for the plant, which is expected to generate $169.7 million in capital investment. The project is the second largest in terms of job creation and investment this biennium. Texas was in competition with South Carolina and Mexico for this facility. The incentive package assembled to recruit Caterpillar Inc. was the largest and most aggressive the Seguin community ever developed. Seguin Mayor Betty Ann Matthies stated that without the regional and state partners, they would have not been as competitive.  More information can be found on the news release distributed by the Office of the Governor of Texas.The announcements of these recent expansions are proof  that partnerships work!

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Chamber of Commerce/City of New Braunfels/ Economic Development Foundation:

According to the U. S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, the involvement and active participation of the private sector in economic development activities is a key factor in sustainable economies in the 21^st century. That theory applies to our business model in our community as a public/private partnership involving the City via their 4B Board, our Foundation, and the Chamber of Commerce. 

The public-private partnership was recently re-branded as "Build NB". The re-branding will better represent the entities that fund marketing initiatives and communicate more effectively local recruitment efforts. For more information about Build NB, click here.