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Red River Commerce Park, TX - GUIDE Network Survey

Bruce Donnelly   bruce@gdi-solutions.com    (Biography)

Contact :

Duane Lavery, CEcD. *

Executive Director

Red River Redevelopment Authority

Red River Commerce Park

107 Chapel Lane

New Boston, TX  75570

Phone  903-223-9841

Fax      903-223-8742

email : duane.lavery@rrcp.org 

*C.Ec.D. is a professional certification

for economic development by IEDC.

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Geographic area served   - map

The Red River Commerce Park is a 765 acre industrial park located in New Boston, TX, the county seat for Bowie County, near Miller County Arkansas.  This is close to the border between Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, near Texarkana in northeast Texas.

It is along Interstate I-30 which connects Dallas, Texas with Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee.  It is roughly 150 miles from both Little Rock and Dallas - close enough to take advantage of big city amenities in the smaller Texarkana environment.

Although New Boston TX is a small semi-rural town (population < 5000), Bowie County has a larger population, and the adjacent Miller County around Texarkana has a 40,000 population.  There is roughly a 130,000 population within a short travel to work radius for this uncongested location in the Texarkana MSA along a major interstate highway.  That might not be obvious through a quick search of demographic databases, such as for larger cities or specific labor pool attributes.

•  Contact Duane Lavery as above for any questions about this area
•  New 75,000 sq ft spec. industrial building built in 2004
  • 24' ceiling at eaves, sprinkler, 6 loading docks
  • 50' clear between columns, 5000psi floar load - call for details
•  140 acre industrial site next to the golf course, shovel-ready greenfield site
  • with utility services, ready to develop, near interstate I-30
•  31 acre industrial site bordered by trees, golf course; cleared, utilities, rail
  • other industrial site alternatives include 16.7 and 11.0 acre sites
•  Foreign Trade Zone at the Red River Commerce Park
  • FTZ No. 258 serves businesses currently located in the greater Texarkana Area as well as those companies looking at Texarkana as a potential business location.  The FTZ program assists companies with the management of duties and taxes on imported and exported merchandise so that a US location can be more competitive with foreign operations.
  • Duane Lavery will be attending the NAFTZ spring seminar in Chicago, May 22-23, 2005 (National Association of Foreign Trade Zones).  Please contact him directly if a meeting at that time may be of interest.
•  Two one-level office buildings, built in 1987-1990, 4000 and 11,477 sq. ft.
•  Retail developments are growing in the Texarkana MSA, including the northwest area where a new university campus is planned.  Since the metro area straddles two states and serves a larger region, retailers may underestimate the potential of this market by just looking at Texarkana TX or Texarkana AL or county demographics.
•  A 60 mile radius around Texarkana is reportedly served as a major health care center for approximately 400,000 people in the region.
•  The low cost of living is another retail business location selection factor to consider.

Ad Recall : a recent advertisement promoting Red River Commerce Park

Texarkana Chamber of Commerce   www.texarkana.org

New Boston Texas Chamber of Commerce

Texarkana Regional Airport (TXK) - 20 minutes away - www.txkairport.com - with services to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport via daily American Eagle flights and Houston via SkyWest

Foreign Trade Zones Board - frequently asked questions (US Dept of Commerce)

National Association of Foreign Trade Zones (NAFTZ) explanation of benefits

Texas Workforce Commission - www.twc.state.tx.us - information on labor law and labor market statistics, and programs for recruitment, training, and retention of employees

Texas Enterprise Zone information - explanation of business incentives

Rail services : Texas North Eastern Railroad (RailAmerica TNER short line) connects to Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern routes, switching through Texarkana

Universities in the surrounding area

- Texas A&M Texarkana and Texarkana College

Bowie County data - basic demographics

US Census Bureau Quick Facts for Bowie County

HomeTownLocator Community Profile for New Boston

Residential real estate information : CENTURY 21 Branson Realty - Kelley and Cindy Branson - Kelley is also the president of the New Boston Chamber of Commerce

•  NAFTA corridor location for highway and rail shipments
  •  Uncongested location for serving southern USA, Mexico and Canada
  •  forty-five private and public motor freight carriers serve the area
  •  Texas Northeastern Railroad (TNER) service is available to the park
  •  Switching to Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, and BNSF routes
•  Rural cost and work ethic advantages for skilled and unskilled workers
•  Incentives related to redevelopment as a former military base location
  • Set up during the 1990's "BRAC" round of military base changes
  • Development is well ahead of any new base realignment and closure area
•  Texas Enterprise Zone Program
  • Tax Abatement Program
  • No State or City Income Tax
  • Favorable Property Tax Incentives
•  Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund
•  Employee Training Program Assistance
•  The Texarkana Chamber highlights that companies still get "an honest day's work for a day's pay" in this area, and reports that "wages range from the $6.50 for general labor to $20.00 per hour for highly skilled labor. The average manufacturing wage is near $11.00 an hour, plus benefits."
•  The quality of the workforce and logistics is also reflected by the military industrial and global logistics missions in the area.  An interesting independent commentary on this in the context of BRAC military changes can be found on GlobalSecurity.org, which highlights the scope, history, and reputation of these operations.

•  Training assistance - programs specific to the company recruitment and training requirements can be developed - contact Duane Lavery for details
•  Assistance is also available for the retrofit of existing facilities to meet
•  In general, the role of the Red River Redevelopment Authority is to coordinate everything which needs to be done to help a company set up quickly and easily in the area, so speak to Duane Lavery directly about any specific requirements.

Major employers in the area

•  International Paper
  • New Boston TX Lumber Mill
  • Texarkana Bleached Board - Queen City TX - for packaging, milk cartons, drinking cups, and folding carton board
•  Alcoa Mill Products - 900,000 sq ft, 365 employees
•  Cooper Tire & Rubber Company - Texarkana AR plant produces 40,000 tires a day
•  Red River Army Depot - industrial operations include rubber products and other missions by various major tenants, including a large Defense Logistics Agency operation - DDRT - Defense Distribution Depot Red River Texas - which employs roughly 1000 to provide global support, with over 3 million sq. ft. of storage space.
•  The nearby Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant is another industrial complex (small arms ammunition) operated by Day & Zimmerman.  It was scaled down in recent years as military needs changed.
•  Domtar Industries -acquired Georgia Pacific uncoated fine paper mill operations in Ashdown, AR in the northern Texarkana area

The Red River Redevelopment Authority (above) is the main point of contact for potential business investment in this area.

The Texas Department of Economic Development promotes investment in the state, and provides information about state incentive programs as well as considerable background information about "Doing Business In Texas" in general.  If interested in the Red River Commerce Park, however, it is better to contact Duane Lavery as above first, and he can introduce the relevant state contacts for the area as appropriate.

Utilities - AEP Texas - American Electric Power - their economic development program, which in Texas is based in Corpus Christi, covers a multistate service area which includes parts of northeast Texas served from an APE office in Longview.  They provide services in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Arkansas as well as elsewhere in Texas.

Once again, contacts based elsewhere in Texas may not be very familiar with this part of the state, so it may be better to talk to local contacts first for any interest in this region.

Interviewed at Roundtable in the Rockies April 2004 and met at National Manufacturing Week 2005 trade show in Chicago

GUIDE Network Survey published April 18, 2005 and updated periodically since that time

No relationship for any other services (GUIDE or SICR)

Please contact us if we may be of assistance with your interests, or if you have any suggestions for revisions to this content or the GUIDE Network Survey in general.

We publish this information for convenient reference by investors and advisors who may be unfamiliar with this area.  We make no warranty about such content, but we include and edit such responses selectively according to our professional judgment.

This information is provided by local area representatives in response to our GUIDE Network Survey research.  We provide more detailed information and additional links to relevant content for participants in our GUIDE Area Profile service, which involves a closer working relationship to maintain timely knowledge of an area throughout the year, and highlight the benefits of the area as appropriate through other GUIDE tools for specific interests, rather than just publishing this basic introductory information.