Economic development director says four businesses may move to O

Neil McDonald: 1-877-363-3772 • Fax: 432-333-7858 • info@odessaecodev.com [mailto:info@odessaecodev.com] click logo to return to home page back to News Releases ‘Boom’ has official smiling Economic development director says four businesses may move to Odessa By Bill Modisett Odessa American July 11, 2005 Although contract stage negotiations are under way with four major businesses considering a move to Odessa, none has yet committed a relocation. That doesn’t bother Neil McDonald, director of economic development for Odessa Chamber of Commerce, who says he is doing a lot of smiling lately. “We’re as busy as I have been in this business in 15 years, basically attending to details that will lead to some deals.” Those deals could accelerate the business boom being experienced in Odessa, and not only from the standpoint of new business. Existing businesses are expanding, too, which adds to the excitement of the “boom” atmosphere. The four projects and others are keeping McDonald and others heavily involved with providing information to developers about what Odessa has to offer. McDonald is in his element, asserting, “The boom is on and the economic development activities are paying huge dividends.” McDonald negotiates economic development contracts for the ODC. In May, Odessa Industrial Development Corp. contracted with Odessan Bill Pool for the purchase of about 600 acres that will provide additional land for growth in the industrial park. That acreage is bounded roughly on the east by the southern extension of Loop 338, on the west by South Grandview Avenue, on the south by South Ranchito subdivision, and on the north by Interstate 20. No land clearing is being done at this point, McDonald noted, because the stage for final negotiations has not been reached. One of the projects is really big, he added. Noting that labor and access to customers is driving much of Odessa’s current growth, McDonald said he foresees the community continuing to grow to the south and east. Residential and commercial growth will continue in the central part of the city while retail will dominate in the north and east, said McDonald. Citing the four major projects referred to in the OIDC report as Projects Trim, Drink, Nova and Lift, McDonald said, “We’re still in the due diligence scheme of things.” The four, he said, include Project Trim, a meat processing plant; Project Drink, a regional distribution center; Project Nova, a major capital intensive project; and Project Lift, a high-rise building project which McDonald said probably will not make. McDonald also credited Ector County, the City of Odessa, Ector County Independent School District and other agencies with working together to make the current growth possible in Odessa. “All the agencies have really come together in the last four or five years,” he said. One of the projects McDonald earlier had cited as expressing interest in coming to Texas was a meat processor that could bring to the industrial development park a $120 million plant and 700 new jobs. That would continue the expansion along the Interstate 20 corridor linking Midland and Odessa where much of the business and industrial growth has occurred in recent years. “We’re going to grow together,” noted McDonald, “there’s no question about it.” In addition to the major projects, McDonald also underscored the growth in existing businesses through expansions and new construction. One of those is First American Homebuyers Protection Corp., a California-based enterprise which opened a Texas office in Odessa in November 2000 and is now starting to expand its operation. Odessa General Manager Larry Aaron said the company, which warranties the air-conditioning and heating, plumbing, wiring and installed appliances for homeowners, started operations in 2000 with 20 employees and has now grown to 318 employees. It began operations in a two-story building at 4044 Penbrook Ave., but only utilized the first floor in the beginning years. Now, said Aaron, the firm is starting to remodel the second floor. In two to three years, he said, the company plans to double its workforce in Odessa. Aaron had high praise for McDonald and also for Texas Workforce Commission Executive Director Willie Taylor whom he said “have been extremely helpful to us.” Noting the company’s growth is more linked to national trends than to the local economy, he said First American Homebuyers Protection Corp. has grown well because of the available and qualified workforce present in Odessa. “The growth,” he said, “is here in Odessa.”