San Antonio
San Antonio
San Antonio is often called every Texan's second home. The home of the Alamo remains the most popular tourist destination in Texas, which translates into an enviable corporate calling card.
| "There are cities and regions that tend not to recognize the enormous potential that tourism brings to economic development," said Patrick Kennedy, president and CEO of San Antonio's historic La Mansion del Rio hotel and a member of the San Antonio Convention Center Expansion Committee. In his city, that is not the case. "With the growth in international travel, San Antonio has an extraordinary opportunity to become a gateway for the Western Hemisphere." |
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More than 25 companies, including 10 manufacturing operations, have relocated to San Antonio in the past two years. When the city learned it would lose its largest employer, Kelly Air Force Base, to military downsizing, city and civic leaders quickly mobilized and already are seeing companies arriving to take advantage of what will translate into prime industrial space. Pratt & Whitney recently announced plans to build a facility at Kelly. Rail Car America will open a rail car maintenance and repair plant at Kelly in 1997.
"Kelly very soon will give us one of the largest industrial complexes anywhere to point to," said Mario Hernandez, president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. "You'll have 4 million feet of warehouse space out there. That's going to be a big plus for us."
San Antonio International Airport is undergoing ambitious expansion plans that call for doubling the East Cargo Facility and expanding ramp area to foster growth in international air freight. With the recently announced merger of Union Pacific with Southern Pacific, Union Pacific plans to upgrade Southern Pacific's East Yard in San Antonio by $2.9 million and Union Pacific's South San Antonio facility next to Kelly by $6.1 million. To facilitate more border crossings, San Antonio is also developing an international trade processing center for the North American Trade Automation Prototype that will ease the movement of goods and services through South Texas.
Companies moving to San Antonio since 1995 include Golden Aluminum Co. headquarters, a National Flight Services Inc. aircraft engine repair facility, M.G. Products Inc. corporate offices, Amerimex Paint Center, Bar-Master International and a new BABN Technologies Corp. plant. Companies expanding facilities in San Antonio since 1995 include: Bausch & Lomb, Ilex Oncology Inc., VLSI Technology Inc., Harris Corp., Texace Corp. and Mission Pharmacol Co.
The San Antonio Foreign Trade Zone offers more than 900 acres at seven general purpose sites for light assembly and warehousing and distribution, with three sub-zones established to support local manufacturing operations. San Antonio is also home to Texas Research Park, a 1,500-acre development centered around the Texas Institute of Biotechnology, the lead biotechnology organization within the University of Texas system.
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