Giant Caterpillar earth-moving machines have carved a small lake out of the limestone and caliche near the Moores Mill and Wendland Road intersection. And they have laid open a wide swath that looks like an airport runway.
Just one year after Gulf States Toyota announced they would build a behemoth vehicle processing facility at the Rail Park in the Temple Industrial Park, things are running ahead of schedule.
Original plans called for breaking ground in early 2009. But the big Cats started rolling at the 300-acre facility early this fall. The lake is a 21-acre retention pond that will catch runoff from the industrial park and adjacent areas before releasing it into the Little Elm Creek watershed.
What looks like a landing strip for 747s is the base of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail spur that will annually deliver from the port of Houston about 100,000 new Toyotas to Temple. Workers will then customize the cars and trucks to buyers’ special orders before they are sent to dealers across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Jonathan Scott, marketing director with the Temple Economic Development Corp., said Houston-based Gulf States was eager to get the ball rolling. They’ve outgrown their Houston facility, and the uncertainty that Hurricane Ike brought to the area emphasized the push to break ground.
“What we’ve heard from them is: ‘How quick can you get us up? The sooner the better,’” Scott said.
The retention pond and rail hub were already planned for the industrial park. But the city’s contract with Gulf States expedited things.
“It just accelerated what was already planned for the development out there. Perfect timing,” Scott said.
David Patrick, a certified flood plain manager and partner in Kasberg, Patrick and Associates in Temple, said the Rail Park project kept eight engineers and technicians busy full-time for a year.
“This is definitely one of the larger projects we’ve been involved with in the area,” Patrick said. “And with that is also quite a bit of infrastructure the park and area can use ... to help bring in more industry and more businesses.”
Back at the TEDC, marketing director Scott agrees. He said seven out of 10 businesses looking at Temple for a new home tell him they need rail access. Another major factor, he said, is a quick trip to Interstate 35.
Known as phase one, this segment of the Gulf States processing facility is a 230,000-square-foot facility that will employ about 240 when it is finished sometime in 2011. Workers will unload all sizes and models of Toyotas from rail cars, and add such extras as custom stereos, paint and seat covers. When finished, transport trucks will deliver the vehicles to dealers in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
A timeline for phase two, which could double production and bring more jobs to Temple, has not been announced.
