STAR Site: TexAmericas’ new designation could help attract business

TexAmericas Center has received the state’s first STAR Site designation, which could expedite the location process for prospective businesses, officials said.

Sites That Are Ready (STAR) verifies sites as construction ready, which accelerates the decision-making process for site selectors and industry leaders considering Texas for future development.

“Being a STAR site signifies that your community under-

stands that speed to market means speed to profit; the quicker a company can begin operations, the quicker it can begin selling or shipping goods,” said Carlton Sheets, Texas Economic Development Council’s executive director. TEDC oversees. the STAR program.

The TexAmericas site certified is a 101acre parcel, located less than one mile from Interstate 30. It officially has quality standards companies request when conducting a new complex search. This makes it a unique, first-rate business location in Texas and the greater Texarkana area.

Since 2014, TexAmericas Center has worked on obtaining STAR site designation. This week, Sheets proclaimed the property as having met the qualifications.

Economic developers believe the time frame for making business location decisions has shortened, and companies are becoming much more risk-averse. When a company makes a decision to build a new facility, they search for a site that is shovel-ready and relatively risk free.

“MTG was honored to assist TexAmericas Center throughout the process to identify and certify an industrial site that could be considered development-ready by TEDC. TexAmericas Center can now propose a certified site to their clients, who can be confident of the site’s availability and suitability. This designation also offers the additional advantage of ensuring that the client’s construction is more likely to remain on schedule,” said David Williams of MTG Engineers & Surveyors.

The STAR Site Program was established by the TEDC to recognize the ShovelReady properties that exist in the state of Texas and encourage more development.

Texas was one of the only southern states to not have a statewide program to recognize properties that are development ready. This program was designed to promote the quality business parks that exist in the state of Texas and for securing more business expansion in Texas.

“This results-oriented approach has been used to build and propel job creation in many communities. State certification assures potential tenants that our business park is of high quality and Shovel-Ready. We are leveling the playing field by winning this designation,” said Scott Norton, TexAmericas CEO.

The process of securing this STAR Site designation took more than a year to complete. The information collected during the process is an invaluable tool for marketing the site.

Eric Voyles, chief economic development Office for TexAmericas Center said, “The STAR Site Program is a tremendous opportunity for the TexAmericas Center in terms of attracting new businesses to the greater Texarkana area. The documentation allows site selectors and business owners to know exactly what they are getting into with regards to our specific property.”

Oregon has certified 57 sites totaling over 3,300 acres. Of these, 19 have been sold and more than 2,500 jobs created since certification. As more certification programs are developed, evidence continues to show that these programs have proven to successfully propel economic development programs in those states and regions in which they have been implemented.