SAN ANTONIO – A $2 billion project could bring 2,000 new jobs to the Toyota plant on the South Side.
But it’s not guaranteed, and Toyota has indicated it is looking for financial help to make the plan happen.
An application for a tax break filed with the Texas Comptroller’s Office last week showed Toyota is proposing a new vehicle assembly line that could be under construction this year and in operation by 2030.
However, the company indicated the plan it has dubbed “Project Orca,” “involves a highly competitive and ongoing site selection process.”
“At the highest level, Toyota is focused on selecting a location and site which offers significant financial incentives and ongoing operating efficiencies,” the application states.
The application refers to a separate “confidential package” with information on other potential sites that are not specified within the public document.
However, the company states that because of the timeline, the location would need to be at or near “an existing Toyota manufacturing facility that has (or will have) access to sufficient transportation infrastructure.”
The vehicle manufacturer has 14 manufacturing facilities across North America, including the San Antonio plant, which assembles the Tundra and the Sequoia.
Of the 11 U.S. facilities, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Indiana also have existing assembly lines.
A spokeswoman for Toyota Motor North America told KSAT she could not say where San Antonio fell in the order of preferred locations, only that it was a “competitive process.”
The proposed project came to light because of Toyota’s application for the state’s Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act (JETI) program, which allows a project to receive a partial tax break on its local school district property taxes for 10 years, provided it’s large enough and creates enough jobs.
Southwest Independent School District has already indicated it supports the project.
The application shows Toyota is looking for additional incentives beyond that, including close to $37 million in grants or loans from the state, county and city through various programs, as well as additional property tax breaks from San Antonio and Bexar County.
A public hearing on the proposed Bexar County tax abatement is already scheduled for June 23. According to a public notice, the value of such an abatement would be more than $55 million over the course of 10 years.
Spokeswomen for the both the City of San Antonio and Greater:SATX, a public-private nonprofit that helps attract businesses to the area, said they couldn’t comment on specifics of an “active” project or negotiation.
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