AllianceTexas
The Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday approved an $18 million incentive package for McMaster-Carr Supply Co., which is planning to establish a regional headquarters and distribution center in the AllianceTexas development in north Fort Worth.
In exchange, McMaster-Carr will invest $360 million in the project and create a minimum of 250 full-time jobs at a minimum salary of $85,000 by the end of the sixth operating year, according to city documents.
The proposed distribution facility will be on a 117-acre site at 4894-4896 Litsey Road.
The company would be a “strategic asset for Fort Worth to have as part of its industrial ecosystem,” said Michael Hennig, economic development manager for Fort Worth’s economic development department, in a statement.
Under the agreement, the city will provide the company incentives valued at $18 million in the form of 10 annual grants equal to up to 85% of the maintenance and operations portion of new incremental city ad valorem taxes based on the increased value of business and personal property. The incentives would also include up to 50% of the new incremental city 1% sales tax revenues, according to city documents. And, if the company does not complete its plans in a timely manner, the economic agreement will be invalidated.
The new regional headquarters and distribution enter will create $56.8 million in new incremental property and sales tax revenue, part of which will go to the $18 million in grants. It will create $38.8 million in net new incremental property tax revenue over the 10-year period after the project’s completion, according to the city documents.
Founded in 1901, McMaster-Carr, based in Elmhurst, Illinois, is an e-commerce supplier of hardware, tools, raw materials and industrial materials and maintenance equipment. The company is present in five other major cities across the U.S., including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and New Jersey. The distribution facilities, built between 1985 and 2015, range between 569,030 square feet to 1.6 million square feet, CommercialEdge data shows.“By establishing distribution operations and holding a broad inventory in Fort Worth, we will provide our customers throughout the thriving Dallas-Fort Worth region a new level of fast delivery,” said Patrick McKenna, vice president, McMaster-Carr.
Only second after Phoenix ($58.9 million), Dallas-Fort Worth had 52.7 million square feet under construction as of June, representing 5.9% of stock, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. The market had a vacancy rate of 3.9 percent, after recording an average 6.5 percent rise in rents over a 12-month period.
The news comes on the heels of two other announcements impacting AllianceTexas, Hillwood’s 27,000-acre master-planned, mixed-use. Hillwood said recently that it is undertaking two speculative projects that will add almost 500,000 square feet to the development’s industrial market.
Alliance Center East 2 (ACE 2) and Alliance Center East 3 (ACE 3) are each 224,616 square feet and currently under construction along Interstate 35W, north of Westport Parkway. The buildings will have the capacity to accommodate companies ranging from 84,000 to 224,616 square feet. Speculative tenant improvements will also be delivered by 2024’s first quarter.
In July, Southwire, for more than 70 years one of the leading manufacturers of wire and cable used in the transmission and distribution of electricity, has expanded its operations to Fort Worth, officials announced Wednesday.
The company has leased Alliance Westport 25, a 1.18 million-square-foot logistics facility currently under construction within the Alliance Westport sector of AllianceTexas.
Southwire will employ 250 team members there.
Hennig told the council the company has a “strong reputation for paying above industry standard wages and has exceptional benefits for its workers.”
“As we continue to build on the industrial ecosystem in the Alliance corridor, McMaster-Carr’s investment in both our community and our workforce will make a significant positive impact on our growing city – and we’re excited to welcome them to Fort Worth,” said Robert Sturns, director of economic development for the city of Fort Worth.
McMaster-Carr conducted a competitive site selection process for the location of what will be its sixth regional headquarters and distribution facility, according to the report from the city.