AUSTIN | Economic Development

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

Georgia leads the country in tax incentives for film production. This has been a very successful, concentrated effort spanning a couple decades now.

If you want to label the 49 states that do not match their incentive package as "uncompetitive" then go right ahead!

Lousiana has spent >$1.5B in 10 years.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_ro...2825afed3.html


It's not like it's Georgia and then everyone else is equal. Texas spends way less than many states.

[ATX2030]

Incentives OK'd for massive film studio in San Marcos

Some backers identified as Hill Country Studios aims to start work on $267M development in 2023

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...ncentives.html

Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal
Jun 8, 2022 Updated Jun 8, 2022, 10:46am CDT

A fast-growing city between Austin and San Antonio has said "lights, camera, action" for what developers are pitching as one of the largest film studios in the country.

Both the Hays County Commissioners Court and San Marcos City Council on June 7 approved incentives agreements for an 820,000-square-foot "state-of-the-art motion picture studio facility" at 6202 West Centerpoint Road in the La Cima master-planned community. The project is slated to include 12 sound stages, four workshops, backlots, production offices and commercial space.

[MikeInNB]

Originally Posted by drummer

Sorry - I meant Texas State University for students.

That said, yes, the state should take advantage of a major industry wanting to play here.

Yes, new TSU film studio under construction.

https://www.thelawrencegroup.com/tex...and-tv-studio/

[drummer]

Originally Posted by MikeInNB

Yes, new TSU film studio under construction.

https://www.thelawrencegroup.com/tex...and-tv-studio/

Very cool!

[lonewolf]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Lousiana has spent >$1.5B in 10 years.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_ro...2825afed3.html


It's not like it's Georgia and then everyone else is equal. Texas spends way less than many states.

Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program was devised in 2007. Between inception and this year old article Texas had given away 1.66b in incentives.
https://news.utexas.edu/2021/03/22/t...n%20investment.

here's a dirty state by state breakdown
https://www.setheroapp.com/blog/film...reakdown-2021/

most articles I see wrt state film incentives have to do states paring back these programs. the article you posted illustrates Louisiana has managed pretty terribly with their incentives and are trying to remove them. A lot of states tried to ape georgias success but they were a day late. Won't be surprised to see half these incentives gone in under 5 years

[Maximusx1]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program was devised in 2007. Between inception and this year old article Texas had given away 1.66b in incentives.
https://news.utexas.edu/2021/03/22/t...n%20investment.

here's a dirty state by state breakdown
https://www.setheroapp.com/blog/film...reakdown-2021/

most articles I see wrt state film incentives have to do states paring back these programs. the article you posted illustrates Louisiana has managed pretty terribly with their incentives and are trying to remove them. A lot of states tried to ape georgias success but they were a day late. Won't be surprised to see half these incentives gone in under 5 years

Excellent elaboration!

[ATX2030]

First-ever 1M+ square foot speculative facility to be built in Kyle

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/firs...-built-in-kyle

KYLE, Texas - Alliance Industrial Company, a privately held industrial development, will build the first-ever speculative project of 1 million square feet, or more, in the Texas Innovation Corridor with a new development in Kyle.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program was devised in 2007. Between inception and this year old article Texas had given away 1.66b in incentives.
https://news.utexas.edu/2021/03/22/t...n%20investment.

here's a dirty state by state breakdown
https://www.setheroapp.com/blog/film...reakdown-2021/

most articles I see wrt state film incentives have to do states paring back these programs. the article you posted illustrates Louisiana has managed pretty terribly with their incentives and are trying to remove them. A lot of states tried to ape georgias success but they were a day late. Won't be surprised to see half these incentives gone in under 5 years

"$1.66 billion has been spent on film, television and video gaming in the state, creating more than 157,000 jobs, with a 511% return on investment"

Uh, if they made 511% return for 1.6B total, that means the legislature only gave out ~300M in incentives over 15 years.

So Louisiana, a state 1/6 our size, spent 5X as much in a shorter period of time.

[enragedcamel]

Also, how many investments return a whopping 511% over a decade and a half? That's a 35% annualized return, which is phenomenal for this type of thing. If anything, it's just an argument for providing way more of these incentives.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

Also, how many investments return a whopping 511% over a decade and a half? That's a 35% annualized return, which is phenomenal for this type of thing. If anything, it's just an argument for providing way more of these incentives.

It's been a no brainer and we we are able to get some improvements more recently. The late 2010s were rough though and we almost lost the incentives completely a couple times. The governor saved some of them in budget reconciliation in 2017 or 2015. I can't remember. There are just a lot of dumb GOPers that call it corporate welfare and fight tooth and nail to limit the program as much as possible. It's frustrating especially considering Texas was arguably ahead of Georgia 25 years ago in gig hours available. The state is in dire need of a leadership overhaul and we need to shift to making data driven decisions.

[kingkirbythe....]

New Mexico development group plans 'Mega' industrial park north of Austin

https://www.mysanantonio.com/busines...P-CP-Spotlight

Titan Development announced Wednesday, June 8, that it purchased land in Hutto, outside of Austin, that will be home to a massive industrial park.

The company purchased a 188-acre site called the Hutto Mega TechCenter from the city on May 26, according to a news release. The site is just south of Highway 79 and will feature buildings that range in sizes from 200,000 to over one million square-feet. The cost of purchase was not disclosed in the release.

Titan's next industrial park is not far from Samsung's planned $17 billion semiconductor factory in the neighboring city of Taylor.

"We anticipate this new industrial park will help meet the increasing demand by high-tech companies and suppliers to locate in the greater Austin area," said Joe Iannacone, Austin-based senior vice president at Titan, in the news release.

This isn't Titan's first industrial park in the Hutto area. The company broke ground on the over 150,000-square-feet Innovation Business Park at 1150 New Technology Boulevard in October 2017. It completed that facility within three years of breaking ground.

Hutto ranks seventh in the Austin metro area for new home starts, with almost 1,800 permits issued since January 2021, according to the city's economic development website.

San Antonio is set to receive its largest industrial site to date. Atlanta developer Oakmont Industrial Group announced a 639,595-square-foot speculative industrial park in April called Oakmont 410 on the east side. H-E-B is also planning a 100,000-square-foot pharmacy warehouse on the Northeast Side.

[Jdawgboy]

Oh goodie, another article about the Austin area in MySA...

[enragedcamel]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Oh goodie, another article about the Austin area in MySA...

Can you blame them? It's unlikely that articles about SA get any clicks, since there isn't much to be excited about over there, compared to Austin.

[lonewolf]

Originally Posted by Novacek

"$1.66 billion has been spent on film, television and video gaming in the state, creating more than 157,000 jobs, with a 511% return on investment"

Uh, if they made 511% return for 1.6B total, that means the legislature only gave out ~300M in incentives over 15 years.

So Louisiana, a state 1/6 our size, spent 5X as much in a shorter period of time.

and my point is their program is a complete disaster. I don't think it's smart to hold up staes programs that lose money as models. The article you posted says many states are removing their incentives completely or massively scaling them back, that's the landscape right now. Lousiana is going to lose the industry when they scale back their incentives too and they know it, they can't support that naturally.

We have a 500 acre studio opening in bastrop next year and it looks like the 300 acre project in san marcos is going to happen. Austin Studios has been expanding within our city limits too. I think our incentive package is sustainable as well.

To argue we are not competitive in the context of these projects going up is absurd.

And to point to LA and GAs spending (literally the #1 and #2 largest film incentive states) as evidence our incentives are behind the times is not an discussion i'm open to having.

If we get a specific studio come knocking (netflix?) and they ask for some $$ to move here of course we should be open to doing that. If we start seeing the film industry shrinking then we should be open to increase our spending to support. But short of those two things I don't see a reason to increase our spending for the sake of matching other states.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

and my point is their program is a complete disaster. I don't think it's smart to hold up staes programs that lose money as models.

So you're against Texas's program, since it does worse?

Texas's program is also net revenue negative for the state budget.


It generated 1.6B total in economic activity. Even if every single dollar of that was spent on goods subject to the state sales tax, that would have only generated $100M for the state budget (at a cost of 300, or net -200M).


With the reality being far lower.

[lonewolf]

Originally Posted by Novacek

So you're against Texas's program, since it does worse?

Texas's program is also net revenue negative for the state budget.


It generated 1.6B total in economic activity. Even if every single dollar of that was spent on goods subject to the state sales tax, that would have only generated $100M for the state budget (at a cost of 300, or net -200M).


With the reality being far lower.

This comment clarified several things for me, thank you.

[ATX2030]

More details revealed about proposed Applied Materials project in Hutto

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...ncentives.html

Justin Sayers – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal
Jun 15, 2022

...Applied Materials Inc. – the Silicon Valley-based company that is already a major employer in Austin – wants to build roughly 849,000 square feet of "state-of-the-art development labs and manufacturing facilities, which will be home to Applied’s next-generation [research and development], manufacturing and innovation engine," in the Hutto Megasite near FM 3349 and Highway 79, according to documents posted on the Texas Comptroller of Public Account's website June 14.

...If the company moves forward with the Hutto project, the capital investment is expected to top $2 billion, while the project would create at least 525 jobs over a 12-year span in the areas of management, engineering, finance and operations. The company has committed to making 25 of those positions "qualifying jobs," with an average annual wage of $69,000, plus benefits. A qualifying job under the Texas tax code is a permanent, full-time job that pays 110% of the county average weekly wage for manufacturing jobs.

Construction would begin at the earliest in the first quarter of 2023 and be completed by the second quarter of 2026. It would be operational by the end of 2026.

[We vs us]

The second half of the 2020's is gonna be so lit. So much stuff throughout the metro is going to deliver in that 5 years span (from 2025-2030). It may be as consequential a five year span as any in Austin history.

[smallfrie]

"the project would create at least 525 jobs over a 12-year span in the areas of management, engineering, finance and operations. The company has committed to making 25 of those positions "qualifying jobs," with an average annual wage of $69,000, plus benefits. A qualifying job under the Texas tax code is a permanent, full-time job that pays 110% of the county average weekly wage for manufacturing jobs."

Is this a joke or a typo?

[kingkirbythe....]

Tax breaks could top $100 million for proposed $2 billion Applied Materials facility in Hutto

https://www.statesman.com/story/busi...bs/7634245001/

Applied Materials could be in line for more than $100 million in tax breaks for a proposed $2 billion research and development facility the technology company is considering building in Hutto.

An incentive agreement with the Hutto Independent School District could save Applied Materials nearly $38 million in property taxes over 10 years, according to documents filed with the Texas comptrollers office.

With the city of Hutto already considering an incentives agreement worth up to $80 million, that would put the proposed local tax breaks at about $118 million if those deals are finalized and Applied Materials chooses Hutto as the site for the project.

Applied Materials is also in discussions for a possible incentives deal with Williamson County and plans to file an application for a grant from the state-operated Texas Enterprise Fund, according to the documents filed with the comptroller's office.