The Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce is close to inking a deal for 95 acres of land on State Highway 195 near Texas A&M University-Central Texas, according to Chamber President Scott Connell.
Speaking as part of a panel at the fourth annual Forge Research Park Summit at the university Tuesday, Connell said the land will be used as a technology park. More than 100 individuals from the surrounding community attended the summit Tuesday.
With the chamber under contract for the piece of property, which will roughly be on the southwest corner of State Highway 195 and Stagecoach Road, Connell said he expects to close on the land within the next couple of months.
“It is in what is called an overlay district, which has certain protections that are intended for businesses that are going to support the mission and activities of the university,” Connell said.
Connell and three other business leaders spoke during an afternoon panel of the summit. The panel centered around how a research park, which the university is in the process of designing and still envisioning, can help fuel economic development in Killeen and Central Texas.
During his briefing, Connell addressed something that some may say to him and question why there is a technology park near the campus if there is supposed to be a research park on the campus.
Answering that, Connell said the Army could still have influence over what happens on the campus since the 672 acres of land once belonged to Fort Cavazos.
He also said other research parks the university has used to base its plan on are not entirely located on a campus but also spill into the surrounding community, such as the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama.
“Once somebody gets to a manufacturing or something that’s not directly related, or a tech company that doesn’t necessarily have a relationship with Texas A&M-Central Texas but wants to be here, where would be put them?,” Connell said. “This would be a great opportunity.
The technology park will also help the city address an issue that Connell saw: lack of land for office space.
“One of the challenges that Killeen has had … if you want to come to Killeen and you were looking for a place, where would you put an office park?” Connell said. “If you were an office client, where would you go?
“We don’t have an office park. We don’t have a technology park. We’re also running out of land for industrial.”
The technology park will involve mixed-use development and will include businesses such as office buildings, technology, data centers, light manufacturing, hotel, retail and service industries.
According to the university’s website, Forge at A&M-Central Texas — the proposed name of the research park — “will provide a place where A&M Central Texas faculty, staff, and students, as well as Fort Cavazos researchers like Operational Test Command, can attract relevant industries to the Central Texas area to collaborate on research with them.”
Planned research areas include national defense, alternative energy, cybersecurity, healthcare, data analytics, and education/archives.
Currently, two businesses, Centex Technologies and Trideum Corporation, operate at the university.
In 2009, the university separated itself as a branch of Tarleton State University and moved under the umbrella of the Texas A&M University system, allowing it to receive research funds. Since 2010, the university has received more than $8 million in research funds
