{"id":38021,"date":"2014-07-24T09:40:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T14:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=38021"},"modified":"2014-07-24T09:40:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T14:40:59","slug":"teslas-interest-in-dallas-county-inland-port-brings-attention-to-quiet-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/07\/24\/teslas-interest-in-dallas-county-inland-port-brings-attention-to-quiet-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla’s Interest In Dallas County Inland Port Brings Attention To Quiet Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

From KERA News:\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n
\"Goods<\/a><\/p>\n

Shelley Kofler KERA News<\/p>\n

Goods from around the world arrive at Union Pacifics Intermodal Terminal in the Inland Port.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Could South Dallas County become home to one of the world\u2019s largest factories? Developers and local officials recently learned electric-car manufacturer Tesla is checking out an area known as the Inland Port as it considers where to build its battery plant.<\/p>\n

The industrial development, 20 minutes south of downtown Dallas, can feel like a world away.<\/p>\n

Less than a mile from Interstate 45, corn ripples in the hot summer breeze. Hay fields grow green with recent rain. Small homes — some of them vacant — dot the landscape.<\/p>\n\n

Developer Mike Rader turns his Chevy SUV onto Pleasant Run Road, as he surveys property near the towns of Wilmer and Hutchins he began buying up 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a new company coming in to do some kind of an oil product. A small business,\u201d Rader explains as he points out a construction site in the midst of undeveloped farm land.<\/p>\n

Rader\u2019s Prime Pointe investment group now owns 4,000 of the 77,000 acres that make up the privately-owned industrial area called the Inland Port.<\/p>\n

In the past decade, it\u2019s become home to large distribution warehouses for some of the country\u2019s best-known brands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got Corporate America here,\u201d Rader says as he ticks off some of the companies: Kohl\u2019s, Quaker Oats, L\u2019Oreal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Georgia Pacific.<\/p>\n

Rader believes the secret to success for this generally impoverished part of Dallas County is something he recognized decades ago: it\u2019s a natural transportation hub.<\/p>\n

The so-called Inland Port, which isn\u2019t on a waterway and doesn\u2019t have a port-authority, sits within four miles of three major interstates: I-35, I-45 and I-20.<\/p>\n

With Rader\u2019s urging, Union Pacific nine years ago built another facility that\u2019s a key selling point — something called an intermodal terminal.<\/p>\n

Every day, a steady stream of 18-wheelers bearing the names of international shipping companies like Yang Ming, Hapag-Loyd and Hanjin pass through the Intermodal gates.<\/p>\n

Inside the rail yard, cargo containers that arrived by train are hoisted onto the trucks in a smooth operation that takes just 30 to 90 seconds. Intermodal lifted more than 300,000 containers last year.<\/p>\n

The trucks then hit the highways, taking the goods to nearby distribution centers and other destinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do down here is build a port that distributes goods throughout the Southwest,\u201d says Guy Brown, the economic development contractor for Hutchins.<\/p>\n

He says the recession brought growth to a standstill in 2008. Now, the phones are ringing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had more interest the past 12 months than we\u2019ve had in the last five years. We\u2019re talking about large companies,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

And one of the largest? \u00a0Tesla, the electric car maker that\u2019s scouting a location for its gigafactory, which is expected to hire 6,500 employees and produce 500,000 lithium-ion batteries a year by 2020.<\/p>\n

Brown says just having Tesla check out the Inland Port is a big deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tesla project would be the largest new industrial project in North America this year. It would have a profound impact not only on Hutchins but the entire North Texas area,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

There is, of course, stiff competition. Tesla is reportedly looking at locations in Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Some consider San Antonio the favored location in Texas.<\/p>\n

But Rader, the developer, isn\u2019t deterred.\u00a0 He\u2019s shifted into sell mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key things we have are the logistics with the interstates and rail systems,” he said. “We have an abundant power supply here \u2026 great for manufacturing, technology companies, computer companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rader isn\u2019t concerned about the North Central Texas Council of Government(NCTCOG) infrastructure assessment\u00a0<\/a>in 2012 that found the Inland Port has the basics for growth but needs more of everything:\u00a0 additional water, sewer and roads.<\/p>\n

He says the city of Dallas, the county and the Council of Government have signed on to a plan to build infrastructure as it\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

And for a big customer?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can deliver. It can definitely come together for everybody for a big manufacturer,\u201d Rader said.<\/p>\n

With or without Tesla, Rader sees his 30-year vision for some corn fields and vacant land coming into focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasics are done,” he said. “Now we\u2019re going to see it roll out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From KERA News:\u00a0 Shelley Kofler KERA News Goods from around the world arrive at Union Pacifics Intermodal Terminal in the Inland Port. Could South Dallas County become home to one of the world\u2019s largest factories? Developers and local officials recently learned electric-car manufacturer Tesla is checking out an area known as the Inland Port as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57],"tags":[298],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38021"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38027,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38021\/revisions\/38027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}