Straumann Doubles Its Arlington Production Site
Straumann Manufacturing, a global leader in dental prosthetics, completed expansion of its only North American production facility in 2016.
Besides adding 12 new jobs, the dental implant manufacturing company doubled the size of its facility in Arlington’ s Great Southwest Industrial District.
In early 2015, the Arlington City Council authorized a Chapter 380 Program Agreement that provided economic development incentives if the company stayed and expanded.
Under the agreement, Straumann will receive a grant equivalent to 85 percent of the City’ s portion of business personal property taxes paid for seven years on the property related to the expansion. The City will also provide a grant of $ 2,000 per Arlington resident who is hired, as long as the employee’ s wages are confirmed to be above Arlington’ s median wage for that year.
Arlington Increases MWBE Goals for City Contracts
The City of Arlington continues striving to increase opportunities for disadvantaged, minority and woman-owned business enterprises, known collectively as MWBE, to be awarded contracts for goods, services, construction and professional services.
The Local and Minority Woman-Owned Business Enterprise Policy, adopted in 2013, originally set a 20 percent aspirational goal for all City procurement contracts awarded to MWBE businesses. In May 2016, the City Council voted to update the policy, increasing the good-faith effort goal to 25 percent and placing more emphasis on contractors providing the City information about whether subcontractors are MWBE certified. Arlington also began requesting payment records from contractors to track whether the City’ s good-faith effort goals are being met.
Other Business News Around Arlington
• WinCo Foods opened a 86,000-square-foot grocery store at 4620 S. Cooper Street in September 2016.
• The WNBA Dallas Wings played its inaugural season at UT-Arlington’ s College Park Center.
• General Electrodynamics Corp, located in a 35,000-squarefoot facility on Calendar Road, announced plans to scale to a newer, more modern facility within Arlington in the next three years.
• Skyline Sector 5, which relocated to the Great Southwest Industrial District from Grand Prairie, celebrated its 15 th anniversary.
• The General Motors Arlington Assembly Plant’ s $ 1.4-billion expansion was named one of the Dallas Business Journal’ s 2015 Best Real Estate Deals in April 2016.
Wrestlemania 32 Brings Whopping Economic Impact
WWE’ s Wrestlemania 32 brought more than top wresting stars to The American Dream City. The April 3, 2016, event at AT & T Stadium set an attendance record of 101,763 fans who traveled from all 50 states and 35 countries. It was also the highest-grossing live event in WWE history at $ 17.3 million.
D. R. Horton’ s Headquarters Under Construction
D. R. Horton, Inc., the nation’ s largest builder, made significant progress on construction of its new $ 20 million corporate headquarters in 2016.
The four-story office complex is set to open along the I-30 frontage road just east of Collins Street in 2017. The relocation from Fort Worth is expected to bring an estimated 500 jobs to Arlington.
The City of Arlington approved a $ 5.5-million development grant to assist D. R. Horton with improvements to drainage, roadways, structured parking and other infrastructure.
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