Paul - <Texas is awash in Oil Money again - they don't need no stinking wafer fab with them stinking new jobs.>
Fort Worth, Texas, Leaders Say Intel Plant Not Crucial to Area's Economy
D'Ann Mabray Shippy
Jan. 26, 2000
Knight Ridder Tribune Business News - KRTBN
KRTBN
Copyright (C) 2000 KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business News; Source: World Reporter (TM)
FORT WORTH, Texas--Intel Corp.'s announcement in 1996 that it would bring a $1.3 billion computer chip plant to Fort Worth's Alliance Airport was touted as one of the city's greatest economic developments.
Now, with the project on indefinite hold, development officials and business leaders say that the plant would have been "gravy" but that the robust North Texas economy will hardly miss the sauce that was never served.
Few, if any, businesses have tied their plans to Intel's arrival, and many considered the plant out of the picture in late 1997, when it was first postponed.
But it would have been nice, state and local business leaders acknowledge.
"It's a huge disappointment to hear of an indefinite postponement," said Jeff Moseley, executive director of the Texas Department of Economic Development. "The good news is that the Fort Worth-Dallas economy is so robust that it can rebound from this."
There are numbers to back Moseley's statement.
"The Metroplex is a dynamic economy," said economist Ray Perryman, president of the Perryman Group. "In many months, it's not uncommon to see it create 1,000 jobs a week. This is not going to derail that growth, but it could have accelerated the trajectory a little bit."
More than 30,000 jobs were created in Fort Worth- Arlington alone last year, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Intel paid Hillwood Development Corp., Ross Perot Jr.'s company, millions of dollars in 1996 for 532 acres just northeast of Alliance Airport in far north Fort Worth. At the time, Intel said employment could eventually reach as high as 5,000.
The company has since spent $60 million to lay the structure's foundation and bring water and sewer lines to the property.
Plant construction alone would have pumped $1.8 billion into the area economy, said Bernard Weinstein, director of the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas in Denton.
But it all stopped in July 1998, when Intel covered up the foundation and abandoned the site. Optimism over the company's arrival waned.
"I think that the Intel move would have been just gravy to the overall picture," said Michael Dewers, a senior consultant with American Metro Study, a residential tracking firm in Dallas. "But I've always considered Intel to be a question mark, and I don't think any of our builders have placed a bet on Intel coming."
It's a glass that's half-full and half-empty, said Terry Ryan, president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
"There is no adverse economic impact, if you look at the situation as it exists," Ryan said. "They've paid $250,000 a year in taxes and contributed to Tarrant County College and [ area schools and libraries]. ... It's a matter of not obtaining, rather than losing something."
So far, Intel has put about $6.8 million into the community, Ryan estimates.
He also suggested that Intel may not abandon this market altogether.
"To this day, I have never heard any representative of the Intel Corporation say they're not going to build it," Ryan said. "Not even a whisper."
There is some evidence to support that hope. Intel forged a program with area community colleges to prepare potential workers for the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
About 200 students are enrolled in the program at Tarrant County College's Northeast and Southeast campuses, TCC assistant professor Natalie Johnson said.
"I had 14 graduates last spring and placed every one of them," Johnson said. "I had 13 graduates last summer and they all received offers."
Cathleen Barton, director of work force strategy for the Semiconductor Industry Association in San Jose, Calif., said the industry will need an estimated 35,000 workers -- 15,000 technicians/operators and 20,000 engineers -- over the next three years.
Despite Ryan's optimism, the Chamber has slowed promotion of the development.
"I think maybe sometimes we've included it in some brochures, but I don't think we ever were hanging on it," Ryan said. "It's not something like D/FW [Airport], FedEx or Nokia or Alliance itself. Those are things we're really touted because they're on the ground and running."
Moseley, who was instrumental in bringing Intel to North Texas when he was county judge in Denton, said Intel's property is too good to lie fallow.
Mike Berry, president of Hillwood Properties, agreed. He said he believes Intel will eventually use the property.
"This could be used for possibly other business units, because they've started two or three new businesses in the last year," he said. "It could be maybe a web-farm site or a data center site. This is still the perfect spot for an Intel facility. The infrastructure is here and the labor market is here."
Staff writers Bill Hornaday and Miles Moffeitt contributed to this report, which contains material from The New York Times and The Associated Press. |
