Decatur formally welcomed the newest tenant to Eagles Landing Business Park Wednesday.
The city, Decatur Economic Development Corporation and Decatur Chamber of Commerce celebrated with a groundbreaking for Omega Research at Eagles Landing. Excavation work for the 45,000-square-foot facility on Thom Lambert Boulevard is well underway.
“It’s a wonderful company investing in our community and county,” said Decatur EDC Director Kevin Holzbog. “They are bringing jobs to Decatur that have not been here in the past. They are joining several other companies in adding to our community.
“We’re very excited about this project… The bottom line is it’s making the community better and helping the community prosper.”
Omega Research entered a performance agreement with the Decatur Economic DC in September to facilitate its move to Decatur. Under the agreement, Omega will invest a minimum of $7 million in real and personal property by Dec. 31, 2022, including a minimum of 43,000 square feet in laboratory and warehouse space. The company, which tests metal components for the aerospace industry, has also committed to creating within five years a minimum of 13 full-time jobs with a minimum average salary of $75,000 per job.
In exchange for Omega’s investment, the EDC is giving the company 5 acres in the business park and first refusal on an adjacent 5 acres for a future project.
“We want to thank Omega for choosing Decatur, Texas,” said Decatur Mayor Mike McQuiston. “We want to welcome Omega into our community.
“When we met with [Omega President] Kyle Smith, of the reasons they chose Decatur was not just location, location, location, but also the people, people, people. Thank you for being so inviting.”
Smith praised the city leaders for being “people looking to get things done” and for providing “uncomplicated answers” during the process of drafting an agreement.
Omega will be the third company to build at the business park, joining Cardinal Paint and Industrial Diesel. Two more companies are expected to break ground soon at Eagles Landing — Aqualine and GT Products. Holzbog expects both projects to be underway this summer.
Holzbog pointed out the business park has seen a 570 percent return on the city’s initial investment of $6 million.
“That includes this $40 million new capital investment. It’s also 250 quality jobs,” Holzbog said. “Most of that investment has been in the past 13 months.”