Tyler Economic Development Corp. plans to build industrial park to lure companies

Star Local Media
By Maleri McHam mmcham@tylerpaper.com
​​​​​​​Oct 18, 2022

The Tyler Economic Development Corp. wants to build a 412-acre business park off Interstate 20 to attract manufacturing, distribution and other industries.

Scott Martinez, CEO of the TEDC, spoke Tuesday about the project to county commissioners, who later approved using federal coronavirus relief money to build a public road through the business park.

The city does not have a business park such as is in Longview and Kilgore, which means Tyler is missing out on potential economic development projects, Martinez said.

For example, Dollar General and Gap Inc. have opened distribution facilities in one of Longview’s two business parks.

Martinez said the park would be on I-20 and bordered by Texas 155 to the east and Smith CR 336 to the west.

“This is the largest real estate acquisition (the Tyler Economic Development Corp.) has done in our 34-year history, and this is the first time our organization has actually taken on debt because we see this as a tremendous opportunity in helping us meet our mission as an economic development agency,” Martinez said.

In the past two years, Martinez said TEDC has done well in expanding local companies, but it has fallen short when it comes to bringing in new projects.

Martinez said TEDC has an anchor tenant that would potentially invest more than $30 million into Tyler and bring 100 new jobs to the area. That tenant would take the first 150 acres of the business park property.

Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to use up to $4.5 million in federal relief funding to build a road from CR 335 to Texas 135.

The addition of the road “would give us an opportunity not only to potentially attract this anchor tenant for this industrial park, but also give us over 250 acres that we would be able to take to the marketplace for new manufacturing and distribution companies and job creators that would consider Smith County,” Martinez said.

The agreement with the county and TEDC to build the road stipulates the prospective tenant must agree to locate to the area before TEDC closes on the purchase of the property. If those conditions are met, the county would fund construction of the road.

“There is a double contingency; that’s important to remember,” said Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran. “We’re not committing to funding this if those dominoes don’t fall, but in order for those dominoes to fall, we need to go ahead and put in place our greenlight that if they fall, we’re happy to participate.”

Commissioners on Tuesday also heard a presentation from consultant GMJ about the county judicial administration process and how to make it more efficient. GMJ previously performed a review and consultation on Smith County Jail operations.

Moran said GMJ could help with the efficiency of the county judicial process by making sure everything is “streamlined,” ensuring helpful measures that keep people from sitting in jail are tracked and suggesting ways the county can move the court process along quicker.

“All jails, not just in Texas but across the country, are really struggling with jail population because of the pandemic and also with recruitment and retention of jail personnel,” said Natasha Wagner, director of the criminal justice division at GMJ. “It is not unique to Smith County.”

Wagner said there are multiple steps in the process including project initiation; data collection; onsite visit; judicial review of felony and misdemeanor cases; Texas Department of Criminal Justice release analysis; Texas Commission on Jail Standards peer comparative analysis; review of bonding and pretrial services; developing a report of findings; and recommendations.

Moran said, initially, the compiled data would not just be produced as an informational package with recommendations, but in the future the court could see current and ongoing trends. Not only would this help the county, but it would also provide the community with transparency when it comes to the judicial process.

Commissioners on Tuesday did not take action on the item.

A contract with GMJ for these services would cost about $50,000, Moran said.

Commissioners on Tuesday also approved the purchase of IT security control software and professional services purchases using federal relief funds. This include:

• Patriot Consulting at $24,000;
• Flair Data Systems, Inc. via DIR Contract at $6,633; and
• Flair Data Systems, Inc. via DIR Contract at $28,800.