Town lands facility for gold
Leander chosen as site for state’s bullion depository
AUSTIN — The Texas gold rush is headed is headed to Leander.
The Texas Comptroller’s Office announced Friday that Lone Star Tangible Assets, which will operate the facility, had agreed with the city of Leander for the permanent location of the Texas Bullion Depository to be constructed at an undisclosed location in the city. Construction begins in January and could take until early 2019.
“We wanted something that was close to the staff from the comptroller’s office and also within commuting distance for our existing staff, many of whom live in the Austin area,” said Josh Hinsdale, spokesman for Lone Star Tangible Assets. “We also wanted a fairly large tract of land, not within a heavily urbanized area, and we wanted to be in a friendly community, where our workers would want to live, or report to every day.”
While the site is being constructed, a temporary and also undisclosed location in north Austin will be used for all of Texas’ bullion storage needs. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said he expects construction to be completed by January 2019.
The depository was first envisioned as a new home for millions of dollars’ worth of gold bullion owned by the University of Texas In-
vestment Management Company that manages investments for the UT and Texas A&M systems. UTIMCO has stated it does not intend to move its gold to the depository.
Open to investors
UTIMCO stores its gold in New York, and the nonprofit pays $605,000 annually in storage fees.
In 2015, upon signing the bill tasking the comptroller’s office with the creation of the depository, Gov. Greg Abbott declared Texas would “repatriate” the gold.
The facility will also be open to private investors from across the state and country seeking to store their bullion.
The depository has been making steady progress toward opening since Tom Smelker, a longtime comptroller’s office employee, was announced the head of the depository and Lone Star Tangible Assets was named the contractor for the depository.
“Something as new and creative as a state oversight bullion depository has never been tried before,” Hegar said. “Essentially, you’re trying to create everything, design everything (and) make sure everything is in place … all of those things take a very long time to be meticulous to make sure you’re making the right decision in moving forward so those who live in Texas and in the nation and around the world that want to store their precious medals in the new Texas depository will feel safe and secure.”
The soon-to-be-built facility will incorporate the “latest technology in security systems.”
The location in Leander will remain undisclosed for security reasons, according to a news release from the comptroller’s office.
Location kept secret
“Once construction gets going and facility gets put up in size, I imagine people will start figuring it out because you can’t hide anything these days,” Hegar said. “The point of it is to get far enough along in the process so that we have everything in place to make those announcements at the appropriate time.”
Possible gun range
In addition to the secrecy, Leander has given Lone Star approval to construct an on-site gun range and tactical training area, but City Manager Kent Cagle said he doesn’t think it will be incorporated in the facility initially.
“There was a little concern, but as it stands now they’re probably not going to build the shooting range,” Cagle said. “They’re going to cooperate with our police department and use our shooting range.”
The depository might sound like it’s going to look like a small fortress, but Hinsdale said the location will be a lot more inconspicuous than some might expect.
“We intend to incorporate the latest developments in perimeter detection and protection technologies, as well as time-tested physical and mechanical security methods,” Hinsdale said in a email. “We are sourcing the latest technologies that allow for 24/7 wide-perimeter electronic security and personnel detection.
“For the casual observer, the facility may look more like a nice office building than a fort, but for those permitted inside it will be obvious that the facility is anything but an average office building.”
For the small, but fastgrowing city of Leander, the depository is seen as a positive acquisition.
Unique for city
“We’re proud to be associated with Austin, but we are different and this is unique for our city,” Cagle said. “The PR value of this location is immense and it’s helpful to putting us on the map.
“We have many other great attributes and assets to our city, but this really is unique and a highlight. It’s really low impact, it doesn’t bring traffic, it brings jobs, it adds some property value, great PR value so it really is difficult to find a negative.”