Spring 2007.pub

INDUSTRIAL
Spring 2007
A Quarterly Publication of
KILGORE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
www.kilgore-edc.com
Orgill breaks ground at Synergy Park
A
leading national distributor of hardware and
home improvement products has become the newest
resident of Synergy Park,
Kilgore’s premier industrial park
on Loop 259.
Groundbreaking ceremonies
were held last week for Orgill’s
planned 530,000-square-foot
facility on 65.2 acres. The company will employ up to 300 people over the next five years.
Several top executives with
Orgill joined politicians and dignitaries from Kilgore and Gregg
Top corporate officers of Orgill, Inc., were in Kilgore recently for groundbreaking
County, as well as representaceremonies at Synergy Park, where the company plans to build its first Texas distives from a number of industries tribution center. Joining Orgill officials in the ceremonial shoveling of dirt were
local dignitaries as well as representatives of Kilgore Economic Development Corin the Kilgore/Longview area.
poration, which successfully lured the company to Kilgore.
“We are a fifth-generation,
service to customers within the four-state region as
privately-owned company,” said owner Joe Orgill.
well as create operating efficiencies for us in Tifton
“We row our own boat, and we like to get somewhere and stay there,” referring to the 160-year-old and Memphis.”
The facility itself will be modeled after Orgill’s
company’s facilities in seven other cities in the U.S..
state-of-the-art distribution center in Hurricane,
Bill Fondren, Orgill’s chairman of the board, expanded on that, saying, “The buildings we build rep- Utah, which opened in 2005.
Upon opening, Orgill expects to employ a miniresent a commitment to the future of the community.
We give back to the communities in which we have mum of 100 workers at the Kilgore Distribution Center, a number that company officials say should infacilities.”
crease to approximately 300 over the next five
“Construction on the project will begin in late
years. These staffing requirements were among the
April, and the facility is expected to be fully operational by the first quarter of 2008,” said Byrne White- main reasons Orgill selected Kilgore for the new
head, Orgill’s executive vice president of operations facility. Geographically, Kilgore fit our needs very
and chief financial officer. “We anticipate construc- well,” said Whitehead, “but the real deciding factor
was the quality and quantity of the labor force availtion on the facility ending right around the end of
able in the area.”
2007 and the facility coming on line sometime durWhitehead added, “It has been an extreme
ing the first quarter of 2008,” he added.
Once operational, the facility will serve Orgill cus- pleasure to work with the Kilgore Economic Development Corporation as well as officials in Kilgore
tomers throughout Texas as well as in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
and Gregg County.”
Customers in these areas of the country are curHeadquartered in Memphis since 1847, Orgill,
rently being serviced out of Orgill’s distribution facili- Inc., is the nation’s largest independently owned
ties in Memphis and Tifton, Ga.
hardlines distributor. From its five domestic distribu“This new facility will allow us to improve our ef- tion centers and two export consolidation facilities,
fectiveness across the board,” says Randy Williams, Orgill, Inc., distributes hardware and home improveOrgill’s senior vice president of operations and logis- ment products to home improvement, hardware and
tics. “This will be a strategic location for us that will building material retailers across the U.S. and in 60
allow us to reduce our lead time and improve our
countries around the world.
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Cleveland Steel selects
Synergy Park as site for
70,000-square-foot facility
A
national leader in the manufacture of steel
pails has chosen Synergy Park as the location
for a new 70,000-square-foot plant that will
eventually employ approximately 35 to 40 workers and
produce nearly 7 million steel pails per year.
Cleveland Steel Container Corporation recently announced its decision to begin construction later this
spring on the facility, which will produce steel pails for
various industrial and commercial products, including
paint and coatings, petroleum and chemicals, as well as
adhesives and roofing products.
Company president John Herrick said Kilgore was
selected for two major reasons: “First, it is very well
located within one of the major market areas for our
products, namely Texas and the Gulf Coast region.
Second, and more importantly, we chose Kilgore because we have a very positive impression of the town
and its people. From our very first visit, we were made
to feel at home.”
Herrick credited the work of the Kilgore Economic
Development Corporation and other city leaders and
volunteers as playing a key role in their decision-making
process.
Headquartered outside Cleveland, Ohio, the company has five other manufacturing plants throughout the
country involved in making steel pails.
Truck wash now open to
serve Kilgore companies
When Dallas-based Marcon Construction wanted to
build River Basin Truck Wash on Highway 31 to
serve the oilfield and trucking industries in Kilgore,
they soon realized the project would not be possible
without existing city sewer lines being extended to
accommodate the new facility’s heavy water usage.
That’s when Kilgore Economic Development Corporation stepped in. KEDC entered into an agreement
with Marcon to pay $5,280 for the sewer line extension. KEDC’s incentive was designed to enhance
services for existing local businesses and to attract
new business to Kilgore. The truck wash near the
intersection of Highways 31 and 259 has been fully
operational since February. The facility features a
fully-automated truck washing procedure that focuses on cleaning the undercarriage of large trucks,
where road grease, mud, and debris are difficult to
eliminate with conventional truck washing methods.
Stewart Stainless Supply new tenant in Synergy shell building
S
tewart Stainless Supply now occupies 15,000 square feet of
Synergy Park’s 76,300-square-foot shell building, where
they recently completed office and warehousing space.
The company joins Cypress Interactive, a web development and
design company, as the only building tenants. Cypress occupies
approximately 2,000 square feet of the building, leaving 56,300
square feet remaining for lease.
Don Carroll, vice president with Perry B. Hall Co., represented
the building’s owner, Kilgore Synergy Partners, in securing the
lease with Stewart Stainless Supply, which plans to utilize its
Kilgore location primarily to service the poultry industry. According
to the company’s web site, Stewart was founded in 1982 and currently operates from facilities in Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Arkansas, Iowa, North Carolina and Virginia.
Stewart Stainless staff includes Jeremy Tatom, left, warehouse manager;
Mike Markey and Doug Johnson, both inside sales. Not pictured: Noble
LeGrand, store manager.
LATX, Minserco to build in North Kilgore Industrial Park
C
onstruction is expected to begin within the next 90 days
on a $500,000 facility in North Kilgore Industrial Park,
where LATX Operations, Ltd., will operate its fluidshauling business for the East Texas region.
Officials with LATX and Kilgore Economic Development
Corporation closed last month on the purchase of a 6.3-acre
lot in the industrial park off Highway 42 in Kilgore. Under
terms of an economic development agreement completed in
February, KEDC agreed to convey lot 4-B to LATX at a purchase price of $48,300, or $7,600 per acre.
Immediately upon closing of the sale, KEDC then reimbursed LATX the $48,300 purchase price in exchange for the
company’s pledge to create 21 full-time jobs in Kilgore and add
$3.5 million in real and personal property improvements in
Kilgore.
The company’s new facility will consist of approximately
Principal partners Mike Bailey, left, and Jon St. Amant with LATX
2,000 square feet of office space and 8,000 square feet for
Operations, Ltd., receive a $48,300 check from Kilgore Economic
shop operations. Mike Bailey, a principal partner and chief
Development board president Bill Adamson for the company’s anticifinancial officer of LATX, said the company has engaged an
pated creation of 21 jobs and investment of $3.5 million in real and
personal property in North Kilgore Industrial Park.
engineering and design consulting firm to study what type of
structure will be suitable for the 6.3-acre lot. Following the
firm’s recommendation, LATX expects to begin construction of the facility by summer 2007.
Bill Adamson, president of the KEDC Board of Directors, said, “Our board is delighted to be moving closer to complete occupancy of North Kilgore Industrial Park, and the incentive paid to LATX represents what KEDC is all about –
helping small businesses move into our community and assisting with expansions of existing businesses who have
been in our community for years. What’s good for business makes for a better Kilgore.”
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A
$7 million, 60,000-square-foot facility for a surface mining equipment manufacturing and service company will
be built in North Kilgore Industrial Park within the next
few months.
An economic development agreement between Minserco,
Inc. and Kilgore Economic Development Corporation facilitates
the new construction by providing a total of up to $540,000 in
incentives to Minserco, a subsidiary of Bucyrus International,
Inc., a leading manufacturer of earth-moving equipment for the
surface mining industry.
Minserco, which has operated since the late 1980s from a
leased facility on Cargill Road outside the Kilgore city limits, will
retain its current 39 employees and add up to 40 new jobs over
the next five years, bringing the company’s projected total employment to 79 by the year 2012.
According to terms of the economic development agreement, KEDC reimbursed Minserco for the purchase price of the Closing documents on a 15.72-acre tract in North Kilgore Industrial
land in the industrial park. The 15.72-acre site is currently val- Park were signed recently by representatives of Minserco, Inc.,
Silvio L. Sella, left, vice president of project management and Bob
ued at $103,000, or approximately $6,550 per acre.
Lee, business manager for the company’s southern region, along
Along with the $103,000 land grant, KEDC will pay Minserco with Bill Adamson, president of the KEDC board of directors.
$297,000 for site work in exchange for the total $7,750,000 real
and personal property improvements the company will make at its new 15.72-acre site.
KEDC has also pledged to award Minserco up to $140,000 ($3,500 per each new full-time job up to 40 new jobs)
over a five-year period. The job creation incentive brings the total incentive package from KEDC to Minserco to
$540,000. In addition, KEDC was able to secure six-year, sliding-scale tax abatements for Minserco from the City of
Kilgore, Kilgore College and Gregg County.
Bill Adamson, president of the KEDC board of directors, said, “Having Minserco in Kilgore is just another example
of how economic development incentives can create a win-win situation for new and existing businesses and for our
local citizens as well. Minserco’s upcoming capital investment and job creation will forge the kind of strong economic
bond that strengthens the future our community.”
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4
Message from the President…
S
pring marks the time of year when everything seems to be growing, and the same
can be said for economic development in Kilgore. We are extremely pleased to welcome Orgill, Inc., to Kilgore. On the first page of our newsletter, you will read more
detailed information about this fine company that will employ 300 within the next five years
and will join Kilgore’s other great corporate citizens that enhance our way of life.
More exciting news is that existing companies are expanding every day, and Kilgore
Economic Development Corporation stands ready to assist all primary employers with their
business needs.
Furthermore, there is a growing number of diversified businesses that have recently located in Kilgore, and
our KEDC staff fields calls daily from prospects expressing an interest in finding out what we have to offer. One
of the most recent visits to Kilgore was by representatives of an international company who inquired about leasing the remaining 56,000 square feet of space in the shell building at Synergy Park.
While the growth of the oil and gas industry in our area is still on the upswing, KEDC continues its mission to
achieve diversification in Kilgore’s business network. We believe this will put us in good standing when the inevitable downturn in the oil and gas sector occurs.
Because of the diligent work of past KEDC boards who were steadfast in their dedication to develop Kilgore
as a marketable and attractive business location, we are now reaping the fruits of their labors and look forward to
building on the groundwork they laid. When the shell building is fully occupied, we plan to join with our development partner and move ahead with Phase II of the shell building — continuing the efforts to expand on the vision
of our predecessors.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Industrial Scoop, where you will see evidence of how Kilgore’s economic development efforts, past and present, will provide business growth, job creation, stronger tax base, and
better quality of life for the citizens of Kilgore.
Bill Adamson
President, KEDC Board of Directors
815 N. Kilgore Street
P. O. Box 990
Kilgore, Texas 75663
www.kilgore-edc.com
Industrial Scoop is a quarterly publication of the
Kilgore Economic Development Corporation.
Board of Directors:
Bill Adamson, Gary Boyd, Bobby Beane, Dr. Jerry Ted Roberts,
and Karl F. Edmonds, Jr.
Economic Development Director: Amanda Nobles, CEcD
Economic Development Specialist: Lisa Denton
Newsletter Editor: Debbie Dane
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