FORT WORTH, Texas — Read this story and more North Texas business news from our partners at the Dallas Business Journal
Supply chain logistics and tech company ITS Logistics is considering a new office in Fort Worth, bringing up to 339 full-time jobs to the area by 2027.
Fort Worth's economic development department is weighing giving the company up to $847,500 in grants based on hiring numbers. Fort Worth City Council is expected to vote on the incentives May 14.
ITS Logistics is seeking a new office for operations and service around its ContainterAI platform, a technology that uses artificial intelligence to manage the transportation of containers, according to a presentation April 30 to city council. The company is interested in leasing at least 15,000 square feet of office space on the third floor of One West 7th, located at 2859 Crockett St. in Fort Worth’s Cultural District. The office is in the Artisan Circle shopping center along West Seventh Street.
Fort Worth’s city council is considering a three-year economic development agreement to award the company up to $847,500 in grants via a Chapter 380 agreement. Those grants would be based on how many employees ITS Logistics hires. The city would give $2,500 per full time employee it hires with a minimum wage of $100,000 up to 339 employees. Of the hires, 30% must be Fort Worth residents and 15% of construction costs would have to go to business equity firms, including companies owned by women or minorities.
ITS would have to invest $1 million in tenant improvements, equipment and expenditures, and commit to hiring between 250 and 339 full time jobs by Dec. 31, 2027.
Clawback provisions would kick in if ITS is unable to sustain the jobs at the salaries for less than three years, meaning the company would pay back the grants to the city.
District 5 council member Gyna Givens said she likes what she hears about the company and the incentives. She asked questions about the platform and whether the company could be awarded additional incentives for meeting requirements earlier than the agreement states. Fort Worth District 9 council member Elizabeth Beck, who represents the part of the district where the office would be located, said she supports the incentives.
"As we work to reimagine what West Seventh looks like, to have the types of businesses, the restaurant that we want, we have to have the people going to those and that really takes daytime traffic as well," Beck said. "So making sure that those buildings are fully staffed, I think, is really important to help support some of the positive changes that the folks at now Artisan Circle are working to make."
Nevada-based ITS Logistics employs 800 people nationwide, and ranked No. 19 on Transport Topics' list of top freight brokerage firms in North America. The company has a 1 million square foot, $100 million distribution center located at Northpoint Intermodal Logistics, near the Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, in far north Fort Worth.
