With choices aplenty, companies in a broad range of industries and business sectors with an eye to relocate, expand, or reshore their operations are being drawn in droves from near and far to weigh opportunities in Texas.
Why? Like eager kids in a candy store, they are looking to cement their competitive footprint by finding the exact “location…location…location” option to meet their needs.
That ages-old business adage forms the very core of the Mission Rail Park.
As an example. When Milton Harris decided that his company needed extra room for its operations, he had to look no further than his own backyard.
“We had options as to where we could work, but decided on the Mission Rail Park,” says Milton Harris, managing director of Harris Heavy Haul, a heavy-haul specialist in transporting ‘over-dimensional’ cargo. The company moves transformers and out-sized equipment to points across the country by truck, rail, and barge.
The largest heavy industrial park in South Texas, the Mission Rail Park is 1,000 acres of prime commercial property in Wilson County, just 30 miles south of metropolitan San Antonio, Texas, one of the country’s fastest growing Metropolitan Statistical Areas.
Harris Heavy Haul, headquartered in nearby Floresville, works from 10-acres at the Park with plans to expand to an adjacent lot as its business grows, according to Harris. The facility, he says, “is perfect for what we do. It has the rail and highway connections we need to serve our customers at points across the country and Mexico, and we can also keep our multi-axle rail cars based there. That’s a real plus for us.”
At the heart of the success of the Mission Rail Park is the working relationship between all the players involved in making the Park an appealing location to expand for companies with an eye to the future, says Terry Warth, First Vice President of industrial real estate brokerage CBRE.
According to Warth, who played a key role in getting the Park project up and running, that collaboration between the State of Texas, the City of San Antonio, Wilson County, and the Floresville Economic Development Office has been “a critical element in building the platform to create a project that can fit the needs of a wide array of end users and spur the economic growth.”
LaPorte, Texas-headquartered Frontier Logistics is acting as the lead developer of the Mission Rail Park project.
“We want the Park to develop into a manufacturing center for South Texas,” says Frontier Logistics’ President, John Vossler III. “We’ve got a lot of flexibility from the development standpoint. When we have interest from a big tenant that wants to do something special, we can do it.”
Land adjacent to the Park is available for further expansion, while an on-site, private road can be developed as necessary for a tenant’s use.
According to Vossler, the proximity of the San Antonio River is a major plus. “The river has outflow capability. Its primary purpose is to provide outflow for some of the generation plants upstream, while a nature area around the river can be developed for trails and public use or cultural areas.” “The Park has Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer water rights for the entire property and that’s a big draw for a lot of industries, especially now when water access is so difficult to get and so expensive to develop,” he says.
The Park has a strong relationship with local electric utilities which have helped lay the path to support large potentil industrial users. “We have a remarkably close relationship with the power provider for the project. That’s a tremendously important resource and we’re happy that the infrastructure and wholesale power available for tenants at the Park is coming from Floresville Electric Light and Power Systems,” says CBRE’s Terry Warth.
Originally designed to serve the region’s oil and gas sectors, Wilson County, the site of the Park, is an attainment area regarding federal air quality regulations – a major plus for the project that makes it an ideal location for heavy industrial, manufacturing, or traditional warehouse operations.
The Park, adds Vossler, “has very ‘developable’ dirt. In other words, clean, stable, environmentally sound dirt on site. In my experience, it’s the cheapest location I’ve ever found to do any type of development work.”
At the top of the list of advantages that sets the Mission Rail Park head and shoulders above competing development projects is its on-site access to dual rail service provided by two of the country’s largest Class I rail carriers – the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads.
A rare feature for most such economic development projects, the dual rail service provides tenants at the Mission Rail Park with critical connections to business and manufacturing hubs across the country and Mexico, and the ability to receive and depart unit trains with on-site switching and transloading capabilities provided by the Park’s operator, Texas-based Gravity Rail.
The Park features a pair of 8,000-foot unit train tracks, as well as engineering for a 20,000-foot loop and seven 4,000-foot storage tracks all of which have access to both rail carriers.
Hazmat loading and unloading, and dry bulk and liquid commodity transloading capabilities are available, while warehouse and other tenant construction projects can be started immediately.
“There are only six Class I rail carriers in the United States that have interconnectivity in so many different areas,” says Jason Jennaro, partner, Mission Rail Park and founder of Pascal One Ventures.
“When you have service from the two of the largest railroads in the country, it gives you not just nationwide, but North America-wide rail interconnectivity that allows you to not only source raw materials but distribute the finished goods once they’re manufactured. That’s a very big deal.”
Twin Eagle Terminals & Logistics has set up shop on 40 acres at the Rail Park.
The company’s primary business comes from serving the logistics needs of the energy companies working the Eagle Ford shale – a hydrocarbon-producing region that produces significant amounts of both natural gas and oil.
The company’s Twin Eagle Sand Logistics subsidiary is currently serving its customers with more than 33 thousand tons of vertical storage at the Park.
The Mission Rail Park, the company says, “is capable of landing extra-large unit trains up to 150 cars in length and one of the few rail facilities in the region capable of receiving multiple unit trains per day as well as providing manifest rail service to users.”
It’s strategic geographic location, it adds, “provides businesses locating in the Park an optimum location for services to the Eagle Ford Shale region and close proximity to greater San Antonio and surrounding communities.”
With easy access to three major highways and the I-10 – one of the country’s main arteries which runs from east to west linking Florida and California – the Park also has regional road links to the container and break-bulk terminals at the Port of Houston and several other deep-water ports on the Gulf Coast, while the air cargo facilities at San Antonio International Airport are only 45 minutes away.
Another major plus is the site’s 1,840-acre feet of water and direct access to the San Antonio River, says Jennaro.
“Practically speaking, on-campus retainage is already provided so no need to provide for tenant on-site detention, while subgrade materials are already on site and can be mined for construction. Preliminary Phase 1 environmental work is all clean,” he says. “Land prices are very reasonable for development given other metro areas costs. Property tax abatement and other local and regional incentives are available. Natural gas is close and can be built in at reasonable costs, a major trunk Internet service online is coming as well.”
The Park, he says, “has plentiful natural resources, as well as a low cost of living and access to a lot of skilled labor and all those things are incredibly critical ingredients to further develop the facility.”
The Mission Rail Park “provides an excellent opportunity for both new businesses and the City of Floresville to grow,” states Floresville City Manager, Andy Joslin. “Its success means benefits for the entire area in terms of good jobs with companies that want a great location to operate.”
Drumming up interest in the Park has included several visits to the state capital in Austin for both Joslin and Courtland Holman, executive director of the Floresville Economic Development Corp. to meet with the Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office.
“The meetings have gone very well and we’re all working together at all levels to move the project forward,” says Joslin.
According to Holman, four major housing subdivisions are already underway in the area that will provide homes for the workers needed by the companies setting up operations at the Mission Rail Park.
“The community of Floresville is attracting a lot of interest as not only a place to do business, but as a place to live. As interest in the Mission Rail Park from companies looking to grow increases, so will interest in the community from people eager to work for manufacturers and other companies that need their skills. The two go hand-in-hand. We want to see job creation and we want to offer companies interested in settling here the best workers available.”
As part of the Mission Rail Park package, tenants at the Park will have the opportunity to hire both novice and highly skilled workers who are eager to put their talents to work.
The Mission Rail Park development consortium is cooperating closely with two local community colleges – Coastal Bend College and Palo Alto College – to create programs that offer students practical, hand-on instruction in the latest technologies that gives them the wherewithal to a job as an apprentice or entry-level employee.
At Coastal Bend College, for example, the effort centers on the school’s Industrial Mechanics Program through which students can acquire crucial knowledge and hands-on skills necessary for the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of industrial machinery used in manufacturing.
Graduates of the program receive training in a broad range of marketable skill areas such as industrial maintenance, electrical theory and circuitry, hydraulics, pneumatics, motor control systems, process control theory, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), pump and compressor repair and maintenance, mechanical drives, and industrial troubleshooting.
The Palo Alto College creates programs that offer electricity DC/AC Fundamentals and motor controls, mechanical drives, hydraulic fundamentals that give job skills to entry level employees. All are needed for industries that are locating at the park.
Developing a workforce is critical as it “gives a manufacturer the opportunity to draw from a local pool of skilled and educated workers and cultivate long-term, ongoing relationships with a community in close proximity to their plant. It’s about job training and job generation,” says CBRE’s Terry Warth.
Texas is rapidly developing into a thriving manufacturing hub with many resources to attract high-tech manufacturing companies, including affordable real estate, a robust transportation system, and a business-friendly environment. Computer and electronic manufacturing contribute $28.7 billion annually to Texas’ gross state product (GSP), while machinery manufacturing contributes about $19 billion.
From June 2022 to April 2023, construction spending in the state’s manufacturing industry jumped from $90 billion to $189 billion.
“We want to bring that business to the Mission Rail Park, Floresville, and Wilson County. That way, both the tenants at the Park and the local community prosper. It can be a win-win all the way around,” he says.
The Mission Rail Park, with available sites, “is a blank canvas for any company wanting to set up operations,” says Judge Hank Whitman, who not only sits ‘on the bench’ but also serves as Wilson County’s CEO with responsibilities that include oversight of the County’s economic development activities.
“There’s real optimism about the potential the Park has to both meet tenants needs and help grow the community,” he adds. “We’re expecting to see a huge economic boom in this County much bigger than we’ve seen from our partners down to the south and we’re seeing many positive responses from companies that aren’t in the energy industry like manufacturers and whatnot interested in setting up operations at the Park.”
When all is said and done, the Mission Rail Park is both a blank canvas and a magnet, ready to be painted on by any company attracted by its many benefits and advantages.
“We’re looking to attract industries outside of the energy sector that can utilize our workforce,” says Frontier Logistics’ John Vossler. “Ultimately, that’s how they benefit; that’s how the county is going to benefit; and that’s how Floresville is going to benefit. That’s our goal and that’s what we’re working toward.”
Developing the Mission Rail Park project, says Project Partner Jason Jennaro, “We’re working to create a one-of-a-kind industrial nexus point which connects plentiful labor, a supportive local government, and low-cost energy with a nationwide rail network and a sizable Texas market. It’s a unique opportunity.”
