Location heavy factor in Georgia

Mar 21, 2023

SWEETWATER — Location, location, location.

That factor was important in Georgia-Pacific's decision to build a second gypsum wallboard production facility here, at a cost of $300 million. The new plant is across the street from the company's wallboard facility at Interstate 20 and FM 1856.

Georgia-Pacific opened its first plant in 1957.

"In Sweetwater, we will be able to keep logistical costs low, and we will have access to more trucks to deliver our products. This, along with the company's current gypsum facility near Sweetwater, a talented workforce and local natural resources, makes Nolan County an ideal site to expand our operations," Brent Paugh, president of Georgia-Pacific Gypsum, said in a news release.

The value of the Sweetwater location extended beyond logistics, too, said Ken Becker, executive director of Sweetwater Enterprise for Economic Development.

When talks of the project first started in April 2019, city and county representatives promoted Georgia-Pacific's long-standing presence as meaning it had benefited from a strong relationship with the community, Becker said.

"We wanted to establish early on that you've already got a lot of good experiences here so why not expand it," Becker said about community leaders' message to the company.

The company also received economic incentives from local entities to build the plant, Becker said.

The company credits the project coming to fruition "thanks to the support of the state of Texas, including state, county and local leaders," said Yana Ogletree, Georgia-Pacific public affairs manager.

Weeks before an official groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, dirt work was underway on the 700,000-square-foot second plant on about 1,000 acres along Interstate 20 east of the city.

At peak construction, 400 workers will be on site, according to a news release from Gray, which is providing design-build services for the project.

The state-of-the-art new facility will employ about 120 people when it goes online at the end of 2022, Ogletree said.

Georgia-Pacific's first plant has undergone about $6 million in technological upgrades in the last year and will continue to operate when the new facility opens.

Both plants combined will be capable of supplying more than 1 billion square feet of gypsum products annually, according to a Georgia-Pacific news release.

The first plant currently employs about 115 people.

When both plants are operational, the company will be the third largest private employer in Nolan County, Becker said.

The construction project is probably the second largest in the county in 10 years, Becker said. The largest was a $350 million investment in upgrades and plant expansion at the Buzzi Unicem USA cement plant near Mary Neal, he said.

Georgia-Pacific is based in Atlanta and operates more than 150 plants across the country. In addition to supply building products, Georgia-Pacific also is known for such brands as Quilted Northern toilet paper and Brawny paper towels.

With the new plant, Georgia-Pacific will have 12 facilities in Texas that produce a mix of products that include lumber, plywood and chemicals, Ogletree said.

Also being considered for the new plant was Fletcher, Oklahoma, where Georgia-Pacific operates, Becker said.

To further sway Sweetwater's selection, the company was extended several economic incentives, Becker said.

The county and hospital district offered tax abatements, and the Sweetwater Independent School District board signed a Chapter 313 agreement with the company to limit temporarily the taxable value of the plant, Becker said. The agreement name comes from the Texas Tax Code.

SEED also is building a water line that goes from the city to the two Georgia-Pacific plants, Becker said.

"By doing that, they signed a 10-year agreement to buy all their water from city of Sweetwater," Becker said.

Georgia-Pacific also is investing $200,000 in Sweetwater ISD's career and technical education CTE program, it announced Tuesday.

The funds will enable Sweetwater educators to redesign existing curriculum structures and learning spaces beginning with pre-kindergarten. High school teachers will be trained to teach and certify students in general Occupational Safety Health Administration standards, according to a news release.

The school has about 265 students in its CTE program, and the OSHA certification will be incorporated into its animal science, applied agricultural engineering, food science and technology and law enforcement tracks.

With the plant underway and the promise of 120 more jobs, the project has had a ripple effect throughout the community.

"What it has done is kind of given us a sense of the importancy of housing, and that quality of life side of things," Becker said.

When asked if Sweetwater was getting a new residential subdivision, Becker said "we're actually working on a couple things like that that we can't say a lot about yet. ... This expansion is part of the reason that's happening."

Laura Gutschke is a general assignment reporter and food columnist and manages online content for the Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.