A new commerce area is breaking ground in one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities—Kyle, Texas, just twenty-minutes south of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Hays Commerce Center, which sits on 108-acres, is a mixed-use master development situated on the west side of I-35 between Loop 4 and Kyle Crossing.

Hillwood Properties, HPI Real Estate Services & Investments, and officials from area municipalities will break ground on Hays Logistics Center, a two-building distribution and fulfillment center totaling over 400,000 square feet of leasable space, today. Based on strong market trends in Hays County, Hays Logistics Center will be built on a speculative basis looking to support the area’s growing ecommerce and logistics industries. Construction will begin with Building 1, a 220,000 square-foot building set to be delivered in the fourth quarter of this year.

“The availability of speculative space in Kyle enhances our ability to attract and retain employers of choice,” said Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell. “The jobs created at Hays Commerce Center will provide Kyle-area residents with good quality jobs close to home and other developers will take notice of the opportunities here.”

Tenants to Hays Commerce Center are currently being secured. In 2017 Alsco, a provider of professional textile rental services, purchased an eight-acre parcel at Hays Commerce Center and is scheduled to open a new distribution center with expectations to provide about 250 jobs over the next five years.

Hays Commerce Center is backed by Dallas-based Hillwood Properties and Austin-based HPI Real Estate Services & Investments, both of which have a proven track record of successfully developing properties around the country.

“Kyle is in the heart of the I-35 corridor and, with a 500-percent increase in population since 2000, is one of the fastest-growing cities in one of the most dynamic regions in the country today,” said Mike Berry, president of the business unit at Hillwood. “With the available workforce and desirable location, it just makes sense to invest in this area.”

“By this time next year, the businesses in this complex will have primary employment opportunities available,” said Richard Hill, co-founder and partner at HPI.

Both developers added that this project would not have been possible without the passage of the freeport tax exemption by Hays County and Hays Consolidated Independent School District in 2016 and 2017. Under the freeport exemption, a company does not have to pay an inventory tax on qualified freeport goods that leave Texas within a 175-day period.

The passage of the freeport exemption by all three taxing jurisdictions designates the area as Triple Freeport, which makes the city more competitive for new jobs and investment.