Bryan signs deal to lure bottling plant

The Bryan City Council signed an economic incentive deal Tuesday to lure a bottle manufacturing plant to Brazos County that is expected to create 230 jobs.

Gunler, a Mexican company that is a major supplier for Wal-Mart, is in talks to buy 25 acres in the Texas Triangle Park, an industrial site off Texas 6 that was developed by the Research Valley Partnership. The company will make bottles for edible oils, such as olive and vegetable oil, on the site.

The property is on the Union Pacific railroad and has direct access to the Port of Houston. Grunlan plans to bring the edible oil to its facility on trains, bottle it, affix labels and then ship it to consumer markets, many of which will be in Mexico and Central America.

"We are moving rapidly," said Tom Phillips, who has represented Gunler in the economic development negotiations. "We anticipate being in operation sometime between July and August of this year."

The land where the 100,000-square-foot plant will be built is owned by a partnership between Bryan and Brazos County. A sale agreement is in place, but city staff said the price won't be made public until the deal is finalized. The site is currently in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city.

In exchange for locating the plant in Brazos County, Bryan agreed not to annex the site for five years, while still providing police and fire protection. The city will be able to collect 30 percent of what would be the property taxes if it were a part of Bryan. After five years, the agreement can be extended for an additional five years, during which Gunler will be required to pay 60 percent of city taxes.

Brazos County has also been asked to provide tax abatements.

Gunler will be required to add $20 million in taxable value to the property and employ 230 full-time employees with an annual payroll of at least $6.5 million within three years.

"It is going to be a tremendous boom for our area," said Councilman Paul Madison.

The council unanimously approved the agreement.

Gunler will be the first company to move into the Texas Triangle Park, which Research Valley Partnership helped create to take advantage of the railroads that pass through Brazos County. Local officials said they competed with several other communities in the greater Houston area to bring the plant to town.

In other action Tuesday, the council voted to convey about three-quarters of an acre to a developer to build condominiums in the Traditions neighborhood. The $10 million project is targeted to former A&M students and college football fans who hope to visit the area.

The developer, Traditions Acquisition Partnership, has worked to market much of the neighborhood. There is no appraised value for the tract of land.