Holt Caterpillar Coming to Georgetown

Councilman Steve Fought announced in his newsletter that Holt Caterpillar is opening a retail dealership and maintenance facility on 75 acres ajacent to the airport.  Here is the entire announcement.

"Economic Development: HOLT®Caterpillar 

Items "W", "X", and "Y" on the City Council's agenda for 24 January deal in economic development and Holt Caterpillar's decision to open a retail dealership and maintenance facility in Georgetown.  The Council reviewed this proposal in November of 2016 and directed the City Staff to proceed with negotiations.  The final proposal has been reviewed and recommended for approval by the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation (GEDCO).  

This is a success story. HOLT Caterpillar is the authorized Caterpillar heavy equipment and engine dealer for 118 counties in South, Central, North and East Texas. HOLT sells, services and rents CAT equipment, engines and generators for construction, mining, industrial, petroleum and agricultural applications. They also sell Caterpillar used equipment worldwide and fabricate their own line of custom engineered products.  

One of the factors in this decision was Holt's commitment to using renewable energy.  As expressed on their web site, their goal is that:  "All new HOLT CAT facilities will have buildings that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or comparable green building standards."

They further state:

"The HOLT CAT® Environmental Philosophy is to provide solutions that protect people, preserve the planet and enable economic growth. We are providing work environments, products, services and solutions that make efficient use of the world's natural and sustainable resources and reduce unnecessary impacts on people and the environment, while integrating sustainability into our core businesses and helping our customers do the same.

We are leveraging resources to:

▪Promote and protect individual safety and well-being;

▪Provide employment, education and training;

▪Minimize the use of energy, materials, water and land;

▪Maximize recycling;

▪Minimize emissions; and

▪Optimize the use of renewable resources."

My purpose in restating Holt's corporate objectives is to emphasize the importance of Georgetown's decision to go for 100% renewable energy.  Not only was that decision prudent in terms of providing pricing stability and reducing regulatory risk, the spillover effect of attracting firms such as Holt needs to be appreciated.

Holt's decision to open a facility in Georgetown is codified in two agreements, the text of each is attached to Items "X and "Y".  The major aspects of these agreements are expectations that:

-- Holt will purchase approximately 75 acres of land (shown in hatched red on the linked drawing) and will construct a minimum of 60,000 square feet of commercial development on the land for the retail sale of heavy equipment.

-- Holt will invest approximately Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000) in land, infrastructure, real property improvements, and business personal property at the premises.

In return the City will:

-- Expedite the completion of the Airport Road Expansion.

-- Expedite the completion of the sewer extension.

-- Provide a sales tax reimbursement not to exceed $1.5 Million over the 5-year life of the development agreement, based on an expectation of $27.5 Million in annual sales during that period.

This development will obviously bring jobs to Georgetown.  So, in addition to being part of the Council's recent direction to shift the tax base more toward commercial/retail and away from residential, this also coincides with the long-standing objective of attracting employment opportunities to our town.

Congratulations are in order to the City Staff and to Holt, for their success in this project.  I look forward to having this fine employer in our community."