Caterpillar Invests $150 M in TX Plant

Caterpillar Inc. plans to invest $150 million to build a manufacturing plant in Victoria, TX that will create 500 jobs when it’s fully operational.

The Victoria Economic Development Corp. will provide $5.5 million in incentives to have the equipment giant become the primary tenant at the 320-acre Lone Tree Business Center. Caterpillar Inc. will take over the entire park, which has been largely vacant for almost 10 years, to build a 600,000-square-foot plant.

The city council is scheduled to approve a 10-year, 100-percent property tax abatement on city taxes. The commissioners court will consider the same deal for county taxes after the council acts. That’s the maximum abatement allowed by the state.

Mayor Will Armstrong said the tax abatement is an incentive any community would have been willing to offer in exchange for the size investment Caterpillar plans to make. The abatement applies only to the improvements the company plans to make, which include a 600,000-square-foot building to manufacture hydraulic excavators. It does not apply to the property on which the plant will be built.