Distribution Has a Strong Beat in Heart of Texas
Published Dec 03, 2008
Tractor Supply has doubled the size of its Heart of Texas distribution operations.
They don’t call it “The Heart of Texas” for nothing.
An estimated 40 million people live within 500 miles of Waco. Austin and Dallas are each 100 miles away. San Antonio is 160 miles and Houston and its port facilities 180 miles from the region.
The location, plus solid north-south access along Interstate 35 and local governments’ willingness to bring rail lines into their industrial parks, is making the area a hotbed for distribution and logistics centers.
Coca-Cola is building a 60,000-square-foot distribution center in Waco. Tractor Supply Co. more than doubled the size of its existing facility in the region off I-35. Caterpillar Logistics Services Inc. broke ground in April 2008 on a 700,000-square-foot parts distribution center that will start with 140 to 180 employees.
“Caterpillar continually evaluates its parts distribution network, and the most recent distribution study identified the area as a strategic location for its proximity to suppliers and transportation networks,” says Liva Vosekalna-Marek, a Caterpillar spokeswoman. “Caterpillar has 95 acres and we plan to initially occupy 70 of those acres.”
In August 2008, Associated Hygiene Products LLC announced plans to build a 250,000 square-foot facility to make and distribute disposable diapers in Waco; it has additional land in the Texas Central Parkway to expand. The company says it will initially hire 117 workers.
In McGregor, Ferguson Plumbing invested $17 million in a 350,000-square-foot distribution center. RTLC Wind Industries Inc. built a plant to manufacture towers for wind turbines, and an ethanol plant is negotiating with the McGregor Economic Development Corp. to locate in the city’s industrial park, too.
The later two projects were dependent on rail access. So the city, with the help of some grants, is putting in rail lines.
“We’ve been turning down companies because we don’t have rail,” says Leo Connor, executive director of the McGregor Economic Development Corp. “We used to have rail into the park and then tore it up, and the bed is still there, the right of way is still there, but it needs to be beefed up.”
About $200 million in potential capital investment is in the offing once the park, a 15-square mile former Naval Weapons Reserve plant, gets hooked up to the existing rail network, Connor says.
Companies see the Heart of Texas as a hospitable spot with a bright future.
“We know it will grow. We like the proximity to the Houston, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth markets,” says Les Gardner, vice president of logistics for Tractor Supply Co. “It is a really solid place for us to be from a transportation perspective, and we’ve got great customers and a great employee base.”
Tractor Supply is a one-stop spot for recreational farmers and ranchers as well as small business owners and tradesmen. Since 2005 it has increased the number of stores in Texas by 40 percent, to 108 as of June 2008. The Waco center will get product to stores in New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana as well as Texas. “We just made a significant investment and are really excited about the possibility to build more stores in Texas,” Gardner says.
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by Jesse Knish
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