FORT WORTH, Texas — Read this story and more North Texas business news from our partners at the Dallas Business Journal
Workwear giant Carhartt is eyeing Fort Worth for a 1.2 million square-foot distribution center.
The City of Fort Worth will weigh incentives for the project, which would bring about 500 full-time jobs to the city. The site of the proposed distribution center is located at 16101 Wolff Crossing, west of Texas Motor Speedway near State Highway 114.
Carhartt has an annual revenue of approximately $2 billion and employs about 5,500 people. Under the proposed agreement, Carhartt would make a capital investment to the tune of $80 million in business personal property, which includes outfitting the facility with machinery and equipment.
Of this commitment, a minimum of $50 million in taxable appraised value would be realized by Jan. 1, 2025, according to city documents.
As part of this proposed project, the Dearborn, Michigan-based workwear brand would partner with a third-party logistics provider to oversee the design, construction and management.
In return, the city proposes a seven-year tax abatement of up to 75% of the company’s real and business personal property taxes, which would be capped at $2 million. The tax abatement would only cover business personal property, as the construction is being handled by the third-party logistics provider and not directly by Carhartt.
The project’s public-private investment ratio would be 28.9 to 1, and is projected to generate $3,190,738 in net new taxes for the City over the next 10 years. Once the distribution center is established, the City of Fort Worth expects recuperate the value of its investment after a little more than two years.
The incentive will go before City Council for consideration on Tuesday, April 11. A public hearing to create a reinvestment zone in the area is currently scheduled for the same day.
Retailers have a huge impact on the North Texas industrial market. While some retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond have pulled back in the wake of internal financial turbulence, the overall health of retail within the industrial sector remains robust.
“Everything that ends up in a retail store comes from a warehouse, so it’s got a huge influence on the industrial market locally and regionally,” said Randy Touchstone, managing director at JLL.
Activity from retailers has kept a steady pace in the industrial market.
“There was such a feeding frenzy for tenants leasing space in that 24 months post-COVID, that a lot of those occupiers couldn’t find the right space, and maybe they put deals on hold until there were new spaces,” he said. “They’re still executing on that.”