Toys R Us Buys 93 Acres for 836,000-SF Distribution Center

Toys R Us, a Paramus, NJ-based retailer, is forging ahead on plans to build an 836,000-sf distribution center in a strategically positioned outlying industrial development that is gift wrapping wide open spaces with lucrative tax abatements.

Toys R Us has closed on 93 acres at the 1,700-acre TXI Railport in Midlothian, situated 24 miles south of Dallas and 27 miles southeast of Ft. Worth. In line with the purchase, local and county governments are providing 100% tax abatements for the first two years and 25% for the third to ninth years of operation. Double Freeport tax exemptions also are in place, with Ellis County expected to approve a third tier by 2001. A TXI Railport official says the latest pact represents an affirmation of community support via tax packages providing long-term distribution venues.

Toys R Us will be the first distribution center constructed in the massive Railport and one of 10 nationwide being built by the leading toy store retailer. Toy distribution sites in Carrollton, TX, north of Dallas, and Houston will be consolidated when the structure is completed, confirms Al Boschen, Toys R Us director of asset management.