DCOA Buys Land to Expand Business Park
June 23, 2009
Jaime Adame
Board members agreed Tuesday to a 122-acre land purchase that would expand Five Points Business Park for the first time since it was taken over in 1995 by Development Corporation of Abilene.
The total site cost will be $510,969 spread over two years, said Richard Burdine, assistant city manager. The land is being purchased at a price of $3,950 per acre from the estate of Burl Harris.
After the meeting, Burdine estimated that the park currently has about 165 undeveloped acres. He told the board about a trend towards larger sites in the business park, noting that recent occupant Tower Tech is using about 40 acres.
“This gives us some room to grow. It also puts the park on I-20 with frontage on I-20,” said Burdine, explaining that the site may help lure some companies who want to be visible from the Interstate. However, “only about half the site is easily developed,” he said.
The land is between Marigold Street and I-20, east of Arnold Boulevard and to the north of the existing business park.
While the DCOA’s Web site describes the park’s current size as 600 acres, Burdine said after the meeting the usable acreage is much smaller because of flood concerns and the slope of some of the land.
“I think we’ll have a need for that property in the next five years,” Burdine told the board. The DCOA is funded by a half-cent city sales tax and takes in about $10 million per year, including rent from tenants and other revenue, Burdine said. Some occupants own land in the park.
Scott Senter abstained from voting on the project, but it otherwise passed unanimously.
In a phone interview after the meeting, Senter, a Realtor, explained that a sales agent who works for his agency listed the property for the Harris family.
Burdine said the city began negotiations in January, and Senter said he did not join the DCOA board until this spring.
In other action taken, the board voted unanimously to spend up to $69,000 in an effort to lure a business to Abilene. The board typically does not disclose the name of businesses it is negotiating with, but the company sells and assembles airplane kits for experimental aircraft.
The 18-month old business has four employees, not including the owner, and is based in another Texas city. After the meeting, Burdine said he didn’t know when the company would decide whether or not to relocate to Abilene, as it also would need to secure hangar space at Abilene Regional Airport.
© Abilene Reporter-News
