(The following story by Heather Nolan appeared on The Beaumont Enterprise on December 19.)
PORT ARTHUR – A $2 million land acquisition will give the Port of Port Arthur a substantial opportunity for expansion and more than double its size.
Port executive director Floyd Gaspard said the port’s last expansion was in 1989 with a 33-acre land purchase from the Kansas City Southern Railway Company.
As first reported on BeaumontEnterprise.com, the port on Monday officially acquired 70.55 acres from the Kansas City Southern Railway Company for $2,822,000.
The property runs 1,500 feet upstream from the Martin Luther King Jr. bridge to the port’s existing property line and for another 3,500 feet downstream from the bridge, giving the port almost another mile of waterfront in all.
Board president Mark Underhill said Monday the land acquisition will keep the port from being completely blocked in and will increase traffic on the ship channel.
He said the property’s rail, land and water access will give the port the opportunity to attract more business and increase revenue. For now, port officials are unsure what the land will be used for.
“We need a master plan,” Underhill said.
“We’ve had a number of different companies propose projects, but before we start putting anything permanent we want to look at our needs would be for the port and what the best use of that land would be,” he said.
Commissioner Linda Spears said the Port of Port Arthur’s new property is the port’s way of helping the city redevelopment.
“This is our way of contributing to that as an entity that is seriously involved in making something happen,” she said. “We are serious about making sure that Port Arthur continues to be the city that is an economic development powerhouse right now.”