Business park site chosen for third speculative building
February 21, 2007
The Development Corporation of Abilene on Tuesday chose a site for a third speculative building in the Five Points Business Park. The DCOA, which administers the city's half-cent sales tax for economic development, plans to build west of PWP Industries, 6450 Five Points Parkway. Buildings occupied by plastics-manufacturer PWP and carbon fiber-manufacturer Zoltek in the industrial park were built as speculative buildings. Speculative buildings are constructed to attract companies - and their jobs - to town. Some companies are more likely to move to a city if they can move right into a building and set up shop instead of constructing one from the ground up. The third building is needed because of a shortage of industrial properties in Abilene, said Richard Burdine, DCOA chief executive officer. The few the city does have do not meet modern needs, he explained.
The DCOA looked at three possible sites for the new building, which will probably be 100,000 square feet. The site chosen has the lowest cost for extending the railroad line and does not border a street where major construction is planned. After an architectural rendering of the building is finished, the DCOA can start marketing it. Burdine said he would like to have a tenant or owner lined up to occupy the building before it's finished. ''I'm not putting high probability on that because they are generally attracted to buildings already in place,'' he said. A design for the building should be ready in late summer. After that, builders can bid on the project. Burdine did not have an estimated cost for the new building, which is expected to be completed in 2008.
