Pflugerville’s speedy development reviews pay off

PFLUGERVILLE – The City of Pflugerville welcomed a new top employer when its economic development corporation closed a $3.5 million deal to lure Mechanical Technical Services Inc., known as MTech, and its roughly 200 jobs from the company’s Austin home to a new location in Pflugerville.

In all, the city has made eight economic development deals and brought about 483 jobs and $235.6 million in investment in the last year.

Pflugerville has streamlined its development review to enable companies to shorten the permit-to-construction timeline. The process has taken as little as two weeks in some cases.

For the most recent MTech deal, when the Austin-based air conditioning and plumbing company agreed to build a $3.5 million, 33,000-sf headquarters in Pflugerville, the short permitting time was a major factor in the company’s decision to move there, Mtech President Bob Fabrizio said.

Another factor is the light traffic. The new State Highway 130 toll road has drawn companies, especially ones that need access to shipping corridors, to the area because they can avoid much of the I-35 congestion.

SH 130 has a daily traffic load of about 64,000 cars a day and has plenty of room for growth. I-35 handles about twice as much traffic.

Pflugerville still has a ways to go. The city is looking to land its first hotel, as well as more office space to help it grow into the future.