Economic Impact of TSTC Plan Weighed
When Texas State Technical College announced its intentions to pursue the purchase of the former Intercraft building on the northeast corner of Carlos Parker Boulevard and Highway 79, the initial reaction from community leaders was mixed.

Subsequent discussion and analysis of the economic impact of the move has softened the blow some for those concerned about the potential lost revenues, but many details remain to be worked out.

The plan is one step closer to reality, though, as TSTC announced it has an option in place to purchase about 230,000 square feet of the 330,000 square foot facility.

“There are still a lot of questions to be answered on this and it really comes down to what are the partners in for and what is their level of commitment,” TSTC Vice President of Administration and Financial Services Paul Woodfin said.

At a joint meeting in October between city and Taylor ISD leaders attended by officials from TSTC and Temple College, issues were raised about how the financial partners would be included in the decision-making process. City council members also questioned the decision of taking such a large manufacturing facility off the market, causing the community to potentially miss out on future tax revenues.

Taylor Economic Development Corporation president Jason Ford reminded those in attendance that the building had been empty for nearly five years. At the urging of city leaders he worked with Impact DataSource out of Austin to compare the economic impact of the building under a variety of uses.

“The big fish just don’t happen very often, because it is so competitive and difficult to get the big companies. We’ve seen that with the fact that the Big Industrial building has not been filled after five years,” he said.

Following the analysis, most signs point to a greater potential impact under the proposal to have EWCHEC occupy about two thirds of the building and leave the remainder open for smaller manufacturers -potentially in renewable energy.

“The Big Industrial building, in addition to being able to train a much larger number of students, is allowing us to create an infrastructure for employer training for existing industry and attracting new industry,” Ford said.

The three options weighed were first, the original phase one EWCHEC plan, with a conservative employer purchasing and moving into the industrial building. Option two considered EWCHEC occupying the industrial building and option 3 considered EWCHEC occupying the industrial building with the addition of private-sector tenants.

The research showed that counting all factors, the potential net benefit of option three to be slightly higher over a 20-year period than option one or two. And Ford believes with option one, the community still faces the hurdle of landing a large company to occupy the facility.

Option three showed potential benefits in many other areas as well, including potential enrollment at EWCHEC over 20 years - almost double what could take place with phase one alone - plus an increase in potential jobs in the community.

The economic benefits would be seen in jobs at EWCHEC as well as new industrial tenants, plus added jobs from potential new commercial business in the area to cater to the large number of students.

While not as easy to quantify, the impact of additional job training can not be overlooked.

“What you are essentially doing is increasing the spending power as you train more people,” Ford said. “We’ve had some customized training programs, but we have had no lab space for manufacturing, we have no technical expertise from Temple College because they purposely moved away from those areas and which is why they invited TSTC into Taylor to join them and provide those programs.”

Ford and the educational partners agree that a larger presence in Taylor for TSTC and an increase in space for all of the EWCHEC partners has the potential to draw more industries.

“TSTC has a state reputation as a premier technical training school for industry and many companies have located close to TSTC at their locations because of their reputation for delivering a high caliber of skilled talent,” Ford said.

If the plan moves forward, EWCHEC will have about 230,000 square feet to be divided up between TSTC, Legacy Early College High School, Temple College and the other educational partners.

The original phase one plan would have created a 25,000 square foot facility with six classrooms and two workshops.

“This is going to be a huge boost for Taylor and Hutto because it will bring in industry,” Executive Dean for East Williamson County Higher Education Center Chuck McCarter said. “You can bring in industry people and say here are your future workers and future retail and say here is the higher education center just a few miles down the road. In East Williamson County we have always postured this as being a regional effort and we still feel like that.”