Looking at a community from above reveals a lot about its’ growth pattern, and Schertz is no exception. Buildings that weren’t there a year ago now have an assortment of cars in the parking lot signifying new jobs. Rows of semitrucks behind a warehouse, caught in a satellite snapshot of loading activity, indicate inventory going out and money coming in.
Schertz from above shows one thing: growth.
As discussed previously in the Schertz Economic Development 101 post series, the first part of our mission statement involves growing the Schertz economy. It might be more accurate to add that Schertz has been doing some steady growth of its own over the past decade. As you drive across the City, stretches of former Texas farmland have transformed into fully developed industrial parks. The Schertz community of 40,000 residents just outside of San Antonio has become an essential piece of the San Antonio-Austin region’s logistic, distribution, and manufacturing network.
Over the past 10 years, our economic development incentive strategy has changed as well; through our collection of a ½ cent of sales tax, the Schertz Economic Development Corporation’s (SEDC) ability to offer various incentive opportunities has helped recruit quality businesses to the area.
With Schertz leading the San Antonio region’s industrial real estate market, it is helpful to look back over the past 10 years to get a broader understanding of the City’s growth.
4.5 Million Square Feet
From a historical perspective, Schertz’ industrial footprint has kept an even pace along with periods of explosive activity. From 2008 to 2017, the industrial sector of the Schertz economy has added 4.5 million square feet to the marketplace. This increase in industrial space is easily visible in the graphic below which breaks down this growth by year.
Of the 4.5 million, much of this momentum has been concentrated in the northeast corner of Schertz – a location known as the Tri-County Industrial Area. With a thriving business community, immediate access to Interstate 35 and its emerging markets (the 80 miles of Interstate 35 running from San Antonio to Austin is projected to see a population increase of 1.8 million by 2030), and proximity to industrial grade utilities, it makes sense why businesses have located to Schertz.
While new building inventory availability is important, equally so is who is taking up residence in this space. As more buildings have come online, a variety of companies have located their operations within the city. Caterpillar, Amazon, LKQ, Major Wire, FedEx Ground, Keaco, Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, and Capital Group are only a sample of the businesses whose employees and operations make up the lifeblood of Schertz’ industrial sector.
Additional Growth
Growth is not limited to the Tri-County Industrial Area of the community. Another center of activity is to the northeast along Schwab Road, where Sysco and Baker Hughes, a GE Company are located. These companies have collectively built and occupied over 946,000 square feet of space.
As our business community has grown, so too have other elements in Schertz. Several master-planned residential developments have opened, including The Crossvine and The Homestead. These quality communities have been designed to attract people in all stages of life.
New schools have also been built to serve our growing youth population. The Comal Independent School District is completing constructing on their newest middle school, a 129,345 square foot, two story building, located along Hubertus Road and FM 482. The Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District also recently completed a massive addition to Samuel Clements High School which included a 18,658 square foot state-of-the-art Career Technical Education (CTE) building.
On The Rise: 2018 and Beyond
Schertz’ commercial and residential growth shows no signs of stopping as developers and businesses take advantage of new opportunities offered by locating within the community. Over the past 10 years, Schertz has transformed into a premier business center with a vibrant industrial sector; we look to the next decade and anticipate even more development.
If your company is interested in being a part of Schertz’ upward trajectory, browse our list of available Industrial class A and B space as well as development-ready sites to see which opportunities are immediately available in Schertz, Texas.
*All satellite images in this post courtesy of Google Earth.