Project Ocean Wave is actually a fake name for a company and project looking at Waco as a potential location as per the Trib a few days ago. What grabbed my attention is that it will employ 4000 people and will cost 4 Billion to build. That would be a game changer for this area if selected.

That sure would be something. Has Amazon opened their warehouse yet?

BaylorHistory said:

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That sure would be something. Has Amazon opened their warehouse yet?

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I don't believe so...I was on Loop 340 nearby at 9 AM, and the traffic was busy...Construction underway on access roads on both sides of Loop to connect Richland Mall with Central Texas Marketplace Mall...I'm afraid traffic in this area is gonna be extremely heavy in the near future..Price of success, right? :-)

I can't even imagine what a $4 billion facility would be. The new Tesla Gigafactory in Austin "only" cost $1.1 Billion.

CorsicanaBear said:

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I can't even imagine what a $4 billion facility would be. The new Tesla Gigafactory in Austin "only" cost $1.1 Billion.

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I don't think the $1B is the final number for Tesla I read that Musk is planning on being in the $10B range invested when it's all said and done and employee 20K people... Samsung is building a $17B semiconductor plant in Taylor, it will be a 6 million sqft facility and about 2000 jobs. I'm guessing 4,000 jobs and $4B means it's going to be around 1-4 million sqft; would be a big boost for Waco.

It was reported to be a 3 million sq ft facility.

PartyBear said:

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It was reported to be a 3 million sq ft facility.

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thats like 4 times Amazon building

A 4000 employee project may eventually add, what 35,000 people to McLennan County? More?

Nothing would surprise me more than direct flights from Waco to Vegas.

ABC BEAR said:

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Nothing would surprise me more than direct flights from Waco to Vegas.

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Didn't Spirit try that route years ago? IIRC, Waco was dropped after only a month or two and Killeen lasted only a short while longer before it was cancelled, too.This was @mid 80's..ACT did have the charters to Elko and Laughlin, but I haven't seen those in a long time..Now way back when, several of the Hotels would occasionally bring a plane to Waco to accomodate a few of their best customers...Imagine that.. :-)

Bexar Pitts said:

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ABC BEAR said:

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Nothing would surprise me more than direct flights from Waco to Vegas.

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Didn't Spirit try that route years ago? IIRC, Waco was dropped after only a month or two and Killeen lasted only a short while longer before it was cancelled, too.This was @mid 80's..ACT did have the charters to Elko and Laughlin, but I haven't seen those in a long time..Now way back when, several of the Hotels would occasionally bring a plane to Waco to accomodate a few of their best customers...Imagine that.. :-)

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The Hacienda (where Mandalay sits now) once had a fleet of 80 airplanes of different sizes to ferry junkets back and forth to LV. The Riverside in Laughlin still brings junkets to town but has cut back considerably since Covid. It would take more than $20 in free play and 2 buffet tickets to get me up to Elko.

This story sounds familiar. Lessee ...

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It's definitely a mystery. A $4 billion mystery. Maybe even more. The story evolves around a mystery firm that reportedly has offered a $4 billion manufacturing plant of some kind along with the potential of 4,000 employees and two finalists are being considered -- a site in Kansas and one in Tulsa

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Tulsa a Finalist for $4 Billion Plant?

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The Kansas legislature is considering the $1 billion incentives package despite some hesitancy on the part of Republicans who reportedly don't want to hand a major economic victory for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly who is seeking re-election.

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Get your checkbooks out, gentlemen.

4th and Inches said:

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PartyBear said:

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It was reported to be a 3 million sq ft facility.

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thats like 4 times Amazon building

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It is not going to be 3 million sq ft. Walmart's largest warehouse is 2 million sq ft. and it is huge.

chorne68 said:

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4th and Inches said:

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PartyBear said:

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It was reported to be a 3 million sq ft facility.

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thats like 4 times Amazon building

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It is not going to be 3 million sq ft. Walmart's largest warehouse is 2 million sq ft. and it is huge.

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The Amazon facility in Waco is actually 2.7 million square feet of floor area - it has three structural floors above the ground level. And that's not the largest facility type that Amazon occupies.

There are a number of 3-4 million square foot facilities being developed around the US these days, especially for e-commerce and other technology users. They are typically multi-level as opposed to a traditional warehouse like the Walmart facility that was referenced.

Just to give people a little visual I looked up the square footage of a football field and it is 57,600 square feet. So even a 5 story facility of that size times 5 would not even be close to the size of the facilities discussed.

Big talk and big numbers make me wonder if there's an aggy skulking about.

Weston Rogers said:

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CorsicanaBear said:

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I can't even imagine what a $4 billion facility would be. The new Tesla Gigafactory in Austin "only" cost $1.1 Billion.

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I don't think the $1B is the final number for Tesla I read that Musk is planning on being in the $10B range invested when it's all said and done and employee 20K people... Samsung is building a $17B semiconductor plant in Taylor, it will be a 6 million sqft facility and about 2000 jobs. I'm guessing 4,000 jobs and $4B means it's going to be around 1-4 million sqft; would be a big boost for Waco.

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You are right on Tesla. They have enough land to build 6-8 more buildings the size of the first one.
It takes about 20 seconds driving 85 MPH to go end to end of that building, absolutely gargantuan.

Grinnin bear said:

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A 4000 employee project may eventually add, what 35,000 people to McLennan County? More?

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Pretty close to that, yes.

Although it could be the result on an intentional 'misinformation' ploy, the Kansas City Star is reporting that the company who is floating the $4 billion plant is Panasonic and it would be used to make batteries for electric vehicles:

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the Kansas City Star reported that the mystery company might be none other than Panasonic. The newspaper reported over the weekend that Panasonic has agreements to build batteries for electric vehicles including Tesla and Toyota. If that's true and Kansas wins the race, the plant would reportedly be located outside the city of De Soto.

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Kansas is throwing all kinds of money at these guys, and Tulsa is still stinging from having lost Tesla to Austin.

OTOH, Waco is much closer to Tesla and I believe Toyota has a plant in San Antonio, so the logistics would favor someone within Texas, maybe even Waco.

That report is quite an "attention grabber." For purely distribution purposes, Waco does seem to hold some "good cards." We've seen a few large companies locate here for that reason..Location,Location, Location. Do we have the labor resources? I guess that will be answered if this is indeed in final planning stages.This evidently is of such scope that collaberative resources will have to be provided by the state..We'll see what Austin is willing to "throw in the pot." If it's Panasonic, and they are considering Waco, then I absolutely agree with PB...this could surely be a game changer for the area.

Here is an article from Kansas City...mentions Kansas and Oklahoma as two possible sites, with no mention of Waco..perhaps we're the unknown element that sometimes wins the competition. https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article258307028.html

I haven't really thought about Panasonic since the days of VCRs...

Eleven-League Grant said:

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Although it could be the result on an intentional 'misinformation' ploy, the Kansas City Star is reporting that the company who is floating the $4 billion plant is Panasonic and it would be used to make batteries for electric vehicles:

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the Kansas City Star reported that the mystery company might be none other than Panasonic. The newspaper reported over the weekend that Panasonic has agreements to build batteries for electric vehicles including Tesla and Toyota. If that's true and Kansas wins the race, the plant would reportedly be located outside the city of De Soto.

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Kansas is throwing all kinds of money at these guys, and Tulsa is still stinging from having lost Tesla to Austin.

OTOH, Waco is much closer to Tesla and I believe Toyota has a plant in San Antonio, so the logistics would favor someone within Texas, maybe even Waco.

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I thought Toyota just opened up a major plant or maybe even HQ for the US division in Frisco in the past few years. Did they not?

PartyBear said:

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Eleven-League Grant said:

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Although it could be the result on an intentional 'misinformation' ploy, the Kansas City Star is reporting that the company who is floating the $4 billion plant is Panasonic and it would be used to make batteries for electric vehicles:

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the Kansas City Star reported that the mystery company might be none other than Panasonic. The newspaper reported over the weekend that Panasonic has agreements to build batteries for electric vehicles including Tesla and Toyota. If that's true and Kansas wins the race, the plant would reportedly be located outside the city of De Soto.

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Kansas is throwing all kinds of money at these guys, and Tulsa is still stinging from having lost Tesla to Austin.

OTOH, Waco is much closer to Tesla and I believe Toyota has a plant in San Antonio, so the logistics would favor someone within Texas, maybe even Waco.

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I thought Toyota just opened up a major plant or maybe even HQ for the US division in Frisco in the past few years. Did they not?

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Their headquarters is in Plano. Looking at Wikipedia the only factory listed in TX is San Antonio for Tundra and Sequoia.

Panasonic announced today a new battery production facility...in Japan....Don't know what this means in terms of additional plants here in U.S...With all the interest indicated from several states, we'll probably get some word fairly quickly... https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-panasonic-4680-battery-mass-production-target-date/

I think this has nothing to do with it. Project Ocean was specifically looking for a spot in Texas, Kansas or Oklahoma. Those two states I do not quite get.

PartyBear said:

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I think this has nothing to do with it. Project Ocean was specifically looking for a spot in Texas, Kansas or Oklahoma. Those two states I do not quite get.

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Im thinking you're probably correct. I hope we hear something positive..This project, if still in the works, will be a huge winner for the site selected..Kansas and Oklahoma are certainly centered in the U.S. for distribution purposes. To me, that's their draw.

Bexar Pitts said:

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PartyBear said:

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I think this has nothing to do with it. Project Ocean was specifically looking for a spot in Texas, Kansas or Oklahoma. Those two states I do not quite get.

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Im thinking you're probably correct. I hope we hear something positive..This project, if still in the works, will be a huge winner for the site selected..Kansas and Oklahoma are certainly centered in the U.S. for distribution purposes. To me, that's their draw.

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Cheaper land.

trey3216 said:

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Bexar Pitts said:

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PartyBear said:

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I think this has nothing to do with it. Project Ocean was specifically looking for a spot in Texas, Kansas or Oklahoma. Those two states I do not quite get.

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Im thinking you're probably correct. I hope we hear something positive..This project, if still in the works, will be a huge winner for the site selected..Kansas and Oklahoma are certainly centered in the U.S. for distribution purposes. To me, that's their draw.

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Cheap land.

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Good point. Reading between the lines, I think state and local govts. are probably really "sweetening the pot" for Panasonic to choose their location..This truly has the potential to change the economic landscape of the chosen area.

Not just cheap land but often incentives like tax breaks, city money to help build, etc. The article posted back a few posts ago that say those exact things are being proposed in those two states.

cowboycwr said:

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Not just cheap land but often incentives like tax breaks, city money to help build, etc. The article posted back a few posts ago that say those exact things are being proposed in those two states.

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What I'm getting at, is they're likely getting some very similar tax breaks offered by all 3 locales. It could come down to where land/building costs are the cheapest. IF you can build something in a different city or $3-10mm cheaper due to labor costs/land costs/development delays/etc, you might just do it if it doesn't ruin the quality of employee and location calculus.

Semiconductor is my guess.