SINTON, Texas — Everyone in Sinton is solid in their support of Steel Dynamics.
Company officials say they'll build the mill just north of the city.
And it's like any realtor will tell you.
Location, location, location.
Steel dynamics picked Sinton partly because the property had infrastucture already in place.
However, geography had plenty to do with the choice as well.
Steel Dynamics wanted a place to build a mill.
What they found in Sinton was a gold mine.
The property is close to existing electric lines to power its state of the art furnace.
There are two railroad lines on the property with access to a third nearby.
And, it’s less than a mile from a water source via the Mary Rhodes pipeline.
“If you add those three things, among the fact the site is two and a half hours from Mexico, where half the product will be going into,” said Tommy Kurtz, vice president of business and strategic development of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Council.
The mill will produce about three million tons of steel a year.
It will be shipped via roadways or through the Port of Corpus Christi.
And much of it will help satisfy the demand for American steel domestically, including in the Coastal Bend.
“There's enough demand for construction,” Kurtz said. “And in the oil industry, and energy around the country, to where you're seeing a lot of, especially on the energy side, you're seeing more American manufacturing come back.”
The Coastal Bend has become a player in the steel market in recent years, through Voestelpine, TPCO and Tex-Isle.
This new mill and the property it sits on can forge a new future.
“With the addition of Steel Dynamics, this provides a major nucleus to bring other potential projects in,’ Kurtz said.
Steel Dynamics picked Sinton from a field of a half dozen potential sites.
When executives toured the area, they told reps from the Economic Development Corporation the area reminded them of their home base in Indiana.
Steel Dynamics says there will be about 600 full-time jobs at the mill.
That number could more than double with potential business partnerships on the property.
