Business Facilities - August 2008 - (Page 18)

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median sales price of a single-family home during the first quarter of 2008 in San Antonio was $149,800. And, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research, San Antonio has a cost of living that is well below the national average. San Antonio has an excellent quality of life, offering everything from professional sports, theme parks, and museums to nationally acclaimed arts and cultural organizations. The city is Texas’ number one tourist destination with more than 20 million people visiting annually. Spectator sports include men’s and women’s professional basketball, minor league hockey, minor league baseball, a professional golf tournament, and a Class I thoroughbred and quarter horse racetrack. Other major attractions include the Alamo, Sea World, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, El Mercado, the Tower of the Americas, and the San Antonio River Walk. With its variety of incentives and world class charm, San Antonio continues to be an appealing place for companies to do business. ACT exams. You can find branches of McLennan County Community College and Texas State Technical College, while Baylor University is just down the road in Waco. Six more colleges and universities are within easy commute and they all offer standard and advanced courses, plus specialized training. The Heart of Texas Workforce Board also offers special training and funds for individual corporate specialties. The BNSF and Amtrack mainline runs through, with a downtown depot (the Cotton Belt is no longer running). Interstate 35 is just 10 miles from McGregor via U.S. Highway 84, a four lane divided highway The 9,700-acre McGregor Industrial Park McGregor, TX, a central Texas community adjacent to Waco, is a thriving community of 5,500 residents. Founded in the late 1800s at the crossroads of the Cotton Belt and Santa Fe rail lines, McGregor has all of the attributes anyone could wish for: great weather, great resources, and friendly folks. McGregor’s school system boasts one of the best in Texas, and students have tested above average for the state and nation for the SAT and 18 AUGUST 2008 MCGREGOR: CENTRAL TEXAS AT ITS BEST that runs east and west. Waco Regional and Killeen Regional Airports service the area with direct flights to Dallas, Houston, Austin, and Atlanta. The local labor force of 250,000 is ready and willing to work. Fort Hood produces approximately 1,500 veterans per month, most of whom desire to stay and work in the Central Texas area. Recently, McGregor took a blow to its economy with the closing of a Naval Weapons Reserve Base, but looked upon it as an opportunity to reinvent itself, turning the entire 9,700 acres into an industrial park. With full utilities, paved streets, and a number of buildings, they began Location is everything and Pearland, TX is the prime location for business. Now the fastest growing suburb of Houston and 34th fastest in the nation, according to Forbes, Pearland spans 72.63 square miles. Located along Highway 288, Houston’s major transportation corridor to the south, Pearland is the perfect blend of big city business and small city living. Situated in both Harris County and northern Brazoria County, Pearland is ideally positioned minutes away from downtown Houston, the world-renowned Texas Medical Center, two major ports, and numerous airport systems. Perhaps most impressive is Pearland’s strategic proximity to the Texas Medical Center, said to be the largest concentration of medical facilities in the world. A mere eight freeway miles away, Pearland offers a A S P E C I A L A D V E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N O F B U S I N E S S FA C I L I T I E S PEARLAND’S STRATEGIC LOCATION BENEFITS BUSINESS marketing the new McGregor Industrial Park for diversification of its industrial base. In a few short years it has attracted firms like Dell McGregor Business Center, Ferguson Enterprises, Insituform Technologies, Trane A/C, Smead Manufacturing, and Space Exploration Technologies. A major part of McGregor’s ability to attract Fortune 500 and other firms is its sincere dedication and willingness to assist in a company’s needs. Incentives aside, and there are lots of them, the city of McGregor is ready and willing to listen to companies’ desires and try its best to fulfill them. Hence they have over 1,200 employees in their industrial park with 12 companies and 25 manufacturers in the city. Not too bad for a small town in central Texas! PHOTO CREDIT: MCGREGOR EDC

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Business Facilities - August 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots Corporate Moves: Florida Economic Development 2.0 Everything's Big in Texas Aerospace Sites: Poised for Takeoff The Nebraska Advantage Metro Spotlight: Cullman, Alabama Special Focus: Louisiana Industry Focus: Financial Centers Advertiser Index Inside LiveXChange

Business Facilities - August 2008

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