With the greater Austin area expected to double in the next 20 years, the demand for rail freight tonnage will increase and RCR Rail Co is prepared to expand and grow as needed. Taylor is now a part of that growth. RCR Rail Co. has broken ground and construction is underway for a 750-acre rail park, RCR Taylor Logistics Park, which will be a dual Class I rail-served industrial park ideally located west of Taylor to serve manufacturing, storage and logistics industries of central Texas offering direct access to Union Pacific and BNSF Rail lines, State Highway 130, Interstate 35 and State Hwy 79. “RCR are great people to work with and they’ll be a great addition to the community,” said Mark Thomas, CEO of the Taylor Economic Development Corporation. “They’re very committed to the community, and we’re committed, as the economic development organization, to help them be successful and build this park up with quality companies.” The park will serve as a logistics hub for the area, and will assist companies in Travis and Williamson counties, the greater Austin area and other localities increase productivity and accessibility with unrestricted access. The park is capable of handling multiple, non-hazardous commodities and can be customized to fit customers’ needs through transloading, manifest and unit train services for both Class I railroads. Thomas said the scale of the rail park, 750-acres, is to target distribution, transportation, manufacturing and similar types of users. “By having it be rail served that is a huge benefit because it’s so costly to put the rail in and create a rail park,” he said. “The projects that go in there will probably need to have rail service.” According to a press release from RCR, clients currently considering RCR Taylor Logistics Park are national and international grade firms looking to consolidate to central Texas. “Rail is a major player for corporations looking to move product effectively and in large quantities and RCR Taylor Logistics Park will allow industrial users to be closer to the population they serve while taking advantage of the significant cost savings of rail transit,” the press release stated.

August 11, 2020 (CONVERSE, TX)

The City of Converse Economic Development Corporation (EDC) announces the sale of a portion of five parcels the EDC owns at city center. The sale of the land at the lighted corner of FM 78 and Center Street will bring in the national restaurant chain Burger King with a double drive‐thru and a second building at 5,800 square feet for a convenient/food store and will include an additional restaurant space with a second set of double drive‐thru lanes. Drive-thru restaurants in Converse have stood strong through the current health challenges. The properties have been marketed by Transwestern since January 2019 with half‐acre to three acres sites still available. The five (5) parcels were purchased in 2017 with a plan to create economic growth in one of the many areas the City is also investing resources. The City has and is in the process of expanding S. Seguin, FM 1516, Rocket Lane, Toepperwein, and Loop 1604, many include TxDOT funding. Mayor Al Suarez shared, “As Mayor of Converse for the past 13 years, we are approaching our highest peak of success ever. Thanks to the aggressive proactive efforts of our city staff & Economic Development Corporation.” Adding to the announcement, Rosa Gary, President of the Converse EDC Board of Directors, “We are thrilled that we continue to have commercial growth in our city; they will become part of our story! The EDC team diligently supports our business community and looks forward to continuing a path of success!” The EDC actively promotes the City’s population growth to highlight where businesses should expand next.
Currently, Converse has 3,000 new single‐family homes actively being built with more on the horizon. New single-family homes, multi‐family possibilities and annexation phases planned to IH‐10 through 2034, makes the current and future Converse an untapped market for retail, restaurant, hospitality, and commercial developments. Find out more at www.ChooseConverse.com

Media Contact:
Jimsi Kuborn, Executive Director
City of Converse Economic Development Corporation
Jkuborn@converseedc.com PH # 210.659.9163

NewQuest Properties has signed The Kebab Shop for the last spot in its newest building in Stone Hill Town Center, adding the first Mediterranean restaurant to a one-million-square-foot mix of leading national, regional and local brands in greater Austin. The California-based chain has leased a 2,613-square-foot end cap at 18616 Limestone Commercial Drive, Pflugerville, Texas. The Kebab Shop, eyeing an early Q1 opening, will co-tenant with Nothing Bundt Cakes, Duck Donuts and James Avery in the 8,000-square-foot, class A retail building. “There aren’t many Mediterranean restaurants in the region. The Kebab Shop is a new dining category for Stone Hill and is needed,” said Josh Friedlander, vice president of Houston-based NewQuest Properties. He and associate Kevin Sims lease the 196-acre destination development, located about 12 miles northeast of the state capital. The Kebab Shop, founded in 2007, has 18 sites in San Diego, Orange County and the Bay Area in California. The privately owned and operated chain expanded to Texas last year. Stone Hill Town Center will be its fourth location. “The success of other restaurants in Stone Hill Town Center is a strong attraction for new-to-market operators like The Kebab Shop,” Friedlander said. Stone Hill Town Center is located at the bull’s eye of development in the Pflugerville-Round Rock region, offering the longest stretch of retail frontage at the TX 45-130 junction. Anchored by a 185,334-square-foot Target, the project neighbors several brand-new hotels, the $21 million Typhoon Texas Waterpark and multiple large-scale residential communities with more on the horizon. The most recent growth catalyst is Amazon’s under-construction 441,000-square-foot delivery station, which is just 10 miles north, and the Fortune 500 company’s promising expansion in the future. With three Austin-area sites in hand, The Kebab Shop’s owners had Pflugerville-Round Rock in their sights as the next location. Their broker, Greg Stanislawski of Retail Strategy, had introduced other tenants to Stone Hill and did so again. The lease was a done deal within a few months of the tour. “It certainly helped that Stone Hill’s restaurants and businesses have been performing well throughout Covid,” Friedlander said. “The Kebab Shop is a popular, up and coming chain that should do well in our development.”

SEGUIN, TX – The Seguin Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) is the 2020 recipient of Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC) Community Economic Development Award (CEDA) for population category 20,001 and 50,000. The SEDC earned this recognition for the recruitment of Continental Structural Plastics (CSP) and United Alloy, Inc into the Rio Nogales Industrial Park in Seguin. In the process of working to recruit the businesses to Seguin, the SEDC team worked aggressively on the negotiation and finalization of two separate incentive packages for CSP and United Alloy. Combined, the two projects will result in the creation of over 300 new jobs and $100 million in new capital investments. The creation of jobs and capital from both projects will have far-reaching economic impacts on the city, region, state and will position the companies to be more competitive on a global level. “Our Community Economic Development Award is one of the ways in which our organization honors the excellent work done by our communities, their leaders, and their economic development professionals,” noted Dale Fowler, 2020 Chair of the Texas Economic Development Council. “Each community nominated achieved excellence in economic development and substantially improved the economic base of their respective regions. The recipient communities in each population category were recognized for extraordinary accomplishments in meeting the criteria set forth in the nomination process.” This is the second time that the SEDC has received the CEDA in less than five years. The previous award was received in 2016 for the recruitment of Niagara Bottling LLC.
“The momentum that has been created over the past couple of years by being creative, looking for solutions and being customer-service oriented, all of those things have come together to bring economic development opportunities to the City of Seguin,” said City Manager Steve Parker. “There are a lot of things that play into it, it’s the incentives, quality of life, workforce, but it’s also a community that’s all working together to make sure that all of these things are possible and that we all have the same vision. We know we’re going to grow; we want to grow smart, and
we want to grow fast. I am so excited about what has already happened here, but also the potential of the future.” The Community Economic Development Award program recognizes exceptional contributions of TEDC member cities toward the economic vitality of their communities and the state of Texas through creativity, leadership, and partnership in the achievement of business retention, business recruitment and community improvement. “I always like to say that economic development is a team sport, so we really couldn’t have done any of these deals without the support of our partners in economic development,” said SEDC Executive Director Josh Schneuker. “All of our partners coming together helped to really push everything over the goal line and really helped our community to be successful in the recruitment of these companies to Seguin.”
The CEDA committee received applications from thirty-four member communities. Nominees were then judged on five criteria: innovativeness, transferability, community commitment and leverage, measured objectives, and secondary benefits. Communities nominated included: Population Less than 10,000 – Bastrop, Brookshire, Cuero, Hondo, Ingleside, Jacksboro, Rockdale, Sinton and South Padre. Population 10,001 to 20,000 – Bonham, Brownwood, Fate and Sweetwater. Population 20,001 to 50,000 – Burleson, Cibolo, Denison, Greenville, Lancaster, Little Elm and Seguin. Population 50,001 to 100,000 – Cedar Park, Conroe, Harlingen, North Richland Hills, Pflugerville and Waller County. Population 100,001 to 250,000 – Abilene, Odessa, Sugar Land and Wichita Falls. Population 250,001 and Above – Borderplex Alliance, Brazos Valley, Corpus Christi and Lubbock.
The 2020 CEDA recipients in population categories are: Population Less than 10,000: Sinton Population 10,001 to 20,000: City of Fate Population 20,001 to 50,000: Seguin Economic Development Corporation Population 50,001 to 100,000: Pflugerville Community Development Corporation Population 100,001 to 250,000: Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce Population 250,001 and Above: Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation The awards will be presented at a special awards ceremony during the TEDC’s 2020 Virtual Annual Conference to be held Thursday, October7th. You can follow the Seguin Economic Development Corporation on the SEDC’s Facebook Page at facebook.com/seguinedc and on Twitter at twitter.com/SeguinEDC.

About The Seguin Economic Development Corporation
The Seguin Economic Development Corporation was created in 1994 as a type “4A” Corporation under state law. Seguin Economic Development has worked to promote Seguin as a premiere destination for businesses looking to expand or relocate. Voter created, SEDC receives a portion of Seguin’s sales tax to market Seguin and provide incentives to industries such as manufacturing, biotechnical, distribution, energy and technology. SEDC works with existing companies in Seguin and new businesses that are looking to expand their operations.

About the Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC)

The Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC) is an Austin-based, statewide, non-profit professional association dedicated to the development of economic and employment opportunities in Texas. The TEDC provides information, education and legislative services to its members to foster the expansion of existing businesses, the location of new firms and the development of strategies that promote a positive business climate in Texas. With 860 members, the TEDC is the largest state economic development association in the nation.

SEDC Contact:
Josh Schneuker, Economic Development Director
Phone: (830) 401-2415
Email: jschneuker@seguintexas.gov