Enflite Inc. - a Georgetown maker of interior components for aircraft - is preparing to add a new product line, expand its plant in Georgetown and add 75 new employees in the next several years. The company occupies 20,000 sf in Georgetown, and it is building another 18,000 sf to house more offices and manufacturing. Kevin Kieper, chief operating officer, says the expansion should be completed in January and will cost about $2.2 million. Georgetown has offered the company a 4A incentive package of up to $144,000, tied to job creation over the next five years. The jobs created at Enflite will be relatively high paying - averaging $35,000 a year. Mark Thomas, economic development director for the city, says Enflite's expansion in Georgetown is a significant win. Up to 80 percent of job growth in cities typically comes from retention and expansion of existing companies. According to the General Aviation Manufacturers' Association (GAMA), the industry is seeing record growth. The business jet industry shipped 1,138 jets in 2007, a 28 percent increase over the previous year. For the first six months of 2008, business jet shipments are up 38 percent over the same period last year. [Austin Business Journal]
ZIP Codes: 78626, 78626 Approximate Location Boundaries: Georgetown
Location Characteristics: Austin's industrial market is seeing the expansion of existing companies as well as firms entering the market for the first time. High-tech firms continue to move in, start up or expand due to the availability of human capital. Speculative development is also becoming a more popular option in Austin's industrial market. Hill Partners and Simmons Vedder & Company are developing the 60-acre Airport Commerce Park. Featuring 374,560 square feet of flex/industrial space, the park will break ground later this year. Other major speculative developments include Trammell Crow Company's 240-acre proposed industrial park at the northwest corner of Dessau and Parmer and its 122,000-square-foot Expo 8 and 104,000-square-foot Expo 9 buildings, which are set to break ground this month in Expo Business Park. Zydeco Development and Atlantis Properties also are expanding the MetCenter development by 350 acres. The majority of industrial development is taking place in the southeast, northeast and in Round Rock, according to Dan Meyer, associate with Commercial Texas. The southeast remains a strategic submarket because of its proximity to the airport and its convenience to I-35 leading south to San Antonio and the new State Highway 130. Currently under construction, SH 130 is a 90-mile, $1.38 billion toll road that will run from Georgetown to I-10 in Seguin. In Round Rock, The Burke Real Estate Group is nearing completion on 160,000 square feet of office warehouse in Chandler Creek Business Park. The development will offer small flex tiltwall buildings for sale. Attracting high-tech tenants, such as data centers and call centers, has become a top priority for Austin developers. Advanced Micro Devices has selected a new location in southwest Austin, and The Home Depot is establishing a technology center in the area. Even with these new companies coming in and absorbing space, a significant amount of flex space is available in the market. The city's overall vacancy sits at 14 percent, with flex space averaging at 25.4 percent and warehouse space at 9.9 percent. In the near future, Austin's northeast and southeast submarkets should be the ones to watch because of the availability of land. [Texas Real Estate Business]
About Donna Scoggins:
Managing property since 1987, Donna has learned Real Estate from the inside out. After 8 years of managing multi-million dollar properties Donna switched her focus to leasing. Giving up her supervisory position with Austin’s top locating service, she became a REALTOR in 2002 and a "Multi-Million Dollar Producer" that same year. In today’s economy, you need a REALTOR who has diverse experience on your side.
These reports reflect the views and opinions of their authors and are not necessarily the views and opinions of Realty Times.
