By Moses Leos III
Hays County Commissioners Tuesday voted unanimously to enter into a Chapter 381 agreement with Best Buy to bring an e-commerce sales operation to San Marcos.
Adrianna Cruz, president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, said the facility would be located in a 20,000 square foot facility on Bugg Lane that had been vacant since fall 2014. Cruz said the facility is scheduled to begin operation October or November 2016.
“I’m excited to welcome another global brand name as Best Buy,” Cruz said. “It will be a major revenue source for the city and the county.”
The project, which will invest $1.25 million to renovate the building, would receive a 75 percent rebate of sales tax over a ten-year period, with two ten-year renewals based on performance, Cruz said.
Best Buy’s e-commerce center would also receive a 50 percent property tax rebate as well.
Cruz said the estimated $240 to $300 million in revenue per year would go back into Hays County during the life of the contract. The economic impact of the deal is an expected $43 million for San Marcos and $14.4 million for Hays County at the end of the 30-year agreement, according to a GSMP release. She said the company would hire 25 employees in the first year, and could expand to 50 employees in following years.
“This is the company’s first and only facility of this kind in Texas,” Cruz said. She added San Marcos was in competition with other areas in the state and that the GSMP crafted the “best packet that we could to land this important revenue generator.”
Cruz said the e-commerce center would be the second largest sales tax generator in San Marcos.
According to a May 2016 article from Business Insider, Best Buy generated approximately $832 million from e-commerce sales in the first quarter, which represented nearly 11 percent of the company’s total U.S. revenue.
Hays County Pct. 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe lauded not only the job creation aspect of the facility, but also where it will look to hire from.
“They will look from the local area for employment,” Ingalsbe said.
Pct. 3 Commissioner Will Conley said securing the e-commerce facility is a “big win today with a fine and respected company.”
“It will be a benefit to all of us and job creation and tax base revenue,” Conley said. “It’s getting into this new economy and e-commerce and away from brick and mortar that we’ve been a part of.”
CORRECTION: In our print edition, we incorrectly reported Hays County would receive $14 million in sales tax revenue per year, with San Marcos estimated to receive $42 million after abatements. The economic impact of the deal is an expected $43 million for San Marcos and $14.4 million to the Hays County at end of the 30-year agreement. We apologize for the error.
