With $1.8 million in upgrades now in place, the Rockwall Economic Development Corp. is opening its 100-acre, second phase of Rockwall Technology Park.
The park's new features include water, sewer, road, landscaping and technology for redundant Internet access.
The park is owned by the economic development corporation -- an entity funded by local sales tax -- which in recent months has been fielding numerous inquiries for large acreage sites, said Greg Nixon, REDC president and CEO.
"It's so competitive," Nixon said. "Industrial relocation is a game of elimination. There are a variety of factors. But if you don't have a site that's ready to build on, that's one of the knock-out factors."
The expansion is adjacent to a 147-acre first phase, which was started in 2000. Located a half-mile south of Interstate 30, the park has about 70 acres remaining to develop, said Nixon, but there's no combination larger than 10 acres.
In the past five years, about 10 companies have moved into the park, accounting for 684,000 square feet of construction, 994 employees and $48 million in investment. Tenants include Special Products & Manufacturing, L-3 Communications Concept Division, EZ-Flo International and Emphysis Medical Management, which makes use of the park's Synchronous Optical Network ring or "Sonet ring" for redundant Internet access.
At the same time, REDC has also developed a new 35-acre site a half-mile north of Interstate 30 that is rail-served by Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad, with direct connections to three major railroads.
For both locations, the cost per square foot is $2 to $4, depending on highway proximity, Nixon said.
The expansion positions Rockwall as a contender for industrial tenants. Locations are limited if a tenant wants to purchase land and own a large tract in an existing park, said Todd Jones, vice president at commercial real estate firm Transwestern Commercial Services.
"They're going to see their fair share of large-user deals just by virtue of their location, and availability of large sites," said Jones, who recently had a tenant inquire about Rockwall's technology
park.
"They are very aggressive and they want to make deals," he said. "Transportation costs were very favorable, and the cost of doing business in Rockwall is very competitive."
Rockwall is the county seat and largest city in Rockwall County, Texas' fastest-growing county and third fastest in the nation. The Dallas suburb of 25,000 people on the eastern shore of Lake Ray Hubbard, has a tax base that's about 70% residential and 30% nonresidential, Nixon said.
"We really would like to try to reach parity to ease the property tax burden on homeowners," he said. "That has been a challenge to keep up and that's part of our reason for trying to attract these large users."
For both the technology park and rail-served park, incentives are in place, Nixon said.
The city offers a standard cash development grant of up to 4% of added assessed value for buildings, equipment, inventory, furniture and fixtures. The money is usually payable after the investment is made and a company has moved in. However, with clawback provisions, exceptions are made to pay the money in advance.
At the rail-served park, DGNO has offered to help in the development of rail spurs, Nixon said.
"They've made it very clear they want to be a partner with us," he said.
REDC sells the land directly to tenants, and third-party ownership in the park isn't permitted. Buyers must agree to build within five years or sell the land back to REDC.
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