The automation, the retailer said, will help Walmart keep up with customer demands as the retailer continues grow nationwide.

DALLAS COUNTY, Texas — Construction is already underway for two new high-tech supply chain facilities from retail giant Walmart.

The chain chose the Dallas-Fort Worth area to build the two new facilities, which includes one 1,500,000 square-foot fulfillment center and a 730,000 square-foot grocery distribution center. Both facilities will be automated, a Walmart spokesperson said.

Construction workers have been at it non-stop to get both Lancaster locations up and running over the next two years, with the fulfillment center slated to open in 2023 while the grocery center will open in 2024.

The automation, the retailer said, will help Walmart keep up with customer demands as Wally World continues grow nationwide.

With the two new centers, the retailer said it plans to not only get products to store shelves faster, but also meet customer home delivery demands. The automated facilities will allow Walmart to more than double the products they move to stores and for customer home deliveries.

Lauren Willis is part of the Walmart Global Communications Team. She said opening the facilities in Lancaster will also be a boost to the economy in that part of North Texas. For example, the Lancaster area prepared months ago for the facilities by planning newly paved roads, new sidewalks, a walking trail and more.

The Lancaster facilities will become the company's largest automated locations, bringing with them about a thousand new jobs. When the high-tech facility at Cornell Street and East Pleasant Run is done, some of the jobs will be high-tech, the company said.

"We are looking for folks with technology experience," Willis told WFAA. "In fact, 40 percent of the new jobs created will require STEM skills to support technical positions."

Walmart operates 19 distribution centers, 593 retail stores and employs 171,000+ associates in the state of Texas, according to the company.

“I, along with my colleagues on the Lancaster City Council, are excited to be working with Walmart as they construct two facilities simultaneously within our community," said Clyde C. Hairston, Mayor of the City of Lancaster. "This is a true example of my philosophy that 'positive, progressive partnerships, produce prosperity for all.' Working together in a collaborative atmosphere always benefits the whole."

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price agreed, saying the facilities will "anchor" the Dallas County Inland Port area.

"This investment is a boon for both Southern Dallas County and Northern Ellis County,” Price said. “Walmart continues to bring economic viability to the fastest-growing industrial area in the country."

Dallas-based McKinley Packaging will spend more than $35 million to build its new box plant in Lancaster.

The paper and packaging company will add 125 jobs at the new manufacturing center on East Pleasant Run.

The more than half million-square-foot facility is scheduled to be completed at the end of this year, according to planning documents filed with the state. Dallas’ Ware Malcomb Architects designed the project.

The Lancaster project will be McKinley Packaging’s seventh plant in the U.S.

D-FW Real Estate News

Get the latest news from Steve Brown and the business staff.

Email Address

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

McKinley Packaging is a subsidiary of Bio Pappell, which is Mexico’s and Latin America’s largest paper and packaging firm.

The company plans to run three shifts at its new Lancaster plant.

It picked the southern Dallas County location after looking at other spots in Oklahoma and Louisiana.

“We are in a high-growth mode as a company, so opening a facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth region aligned strongly with our overall company goals,” Anthony Garcia, Vice President of Operations for McKinley Packaging, said in a statement. “We currently consume as part of the box making process about 310,000 tons of paper across our North American plants with a goal to double our output over the next four years.

“We are looking forward to contributing to the ever-growing e-commerce and distribution industry in a sustainable way.”

The company now has seven plants, two paper mills and five recycling centers across North America.

Steve Berger and Ann Huntington with CBRE Group brokered the land sale for the project.

“This facility combines the efficiency of a brand-new, large-scale manufacturing facility with an ideal location that is perfectly positioned to meet the needs of e-commerce and industrial fulfillment companies across North Texas as well as the United States as a whole,” Berger said.

The McKinley Packaging plant is the second new manufacturing center to land in Lancaster recently.

Niagara Bottling LLC is spending $70 million to build a new 1.2 million-square-foot plant in Lancaster.

Icy roads and freezing precipitation has thrown a wrench into trash and recycling pickup. Some companies are rescheduling and some are suspending pickup early, we’ll post updates as they come in.

DeSoto Trash Collection Schedule Due To Winter Weather

TRASH PICKUP NOTICE: Republic Services has suspended household trash collection in the City of DeSoto on Tuesday, January 31st due to severe weather.

Tuesday customers should secure their trash until their next scheduled service day on Friday.

We anticipate regular service for all other customers to resume on Wednesday, February 1 with recycling collections and Thursday and Friday of this week with trash collections on their normally scheduled days.

Be sure to place out all types of trash no later than 7 am on your regularly scheduled day to ensure proper and complete pickup.

Glenn Heights NO Trash Collection 1/31/23

CWD will not be running operations tomorrow – this will affect both commercial and residential services due to the inclement weather. For additional information regarding CWD services, please visit their website at https://www.communitywastedisposal.com

Grand Prairie Canceling Trash & Recycling Collection Monday & Tuesday

Due to deteriorating weather and road conditions, Republic Services has canceled trash and recycling collection Monday, Jan. 30 and Tuesday, Jan. 31.

If you put your trash/recycling out on Monday, and it hasn’t been collected yet, please bring it back and put it out on your next regularly scheduled day. Tuesday customers, please hold your trash and recycling for your next regularly scheduled day.

For commercial and industrial customers, recovery will run collection one day behind schedule once routes are back up safely. Thank you for your understanding and everyone stay safe out there!

Lancaster Trash Collection

Due to inclement weather, our trash and recycling services will not run on January 31, 2023.

For additional information, please visit the city website at www.lancaster-tx.com/ or email communityrelations@lancaster-tx.com.

Mansfield Trash Collection

Republic Services has also informed the city of Mansfield that it will cancel the rest of today’s residential curbside pickup routes and will NOT run routes on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

LANCASTER –If you love sweet tea and fried chicken, you’ll be happy to know Bojangles is getting closer to opening. Bojangles is located on I35 in the former Chicken Express location. Their signage is already in place and they are completing their finish-out.

Coffee lovers in Lancaster are one step closer to having a Starbucks in the city next to the Neighborhood Walmart on Belt Line.

A public hearing held last week outlined the exceptions the developer was requesting to build the coffee shop in the Mills Branch Overlay District at 1360 West Belt Line Road.

The Starbucks will be a 2,140 square-foot facility and four of the five exceptions were approved with the traffic exception being reworked and coming back to council for approval.

The first exception was the Mills Branch Overlay standard that allows for four parking spaces for every 1000-square-feet of facility constructed. Based on the proposed 2,140 square foot facility the developer would be allowed 10 spots. Starbucks was requesting 28 parking spaces thereby exceeding the Mills Branch Overlay standards.

From an architectural and site design standard, the request was to alter the standard roof, which was approved. The developer also requested an altered storefront, and it was noted a canopy would be included in the design, which does fit with the standards of the Mills Branch Overlay District.

Another exception was the particulars on the drive-through. The exception to the general design standard was from 500 feet to a 168-foot reduction. It was noted this does limit the future develop to the east of the location.

As well, it was noted the developer conducted a traffic impact analysis and the results of the study determined that widening Belt Line Road along the frontage of the property would be required to make the least amount of impact.

Staff recommended the driveway have right in and right out access at this Starbucks location.

A Starbucks representative spoke and explained the exceptions needed and said it was understood that future road plans could change the driveway configuration.

A motion was made to approve the exceptions with the traffic consideration for the right in and right out in the ordinance to reflect necessary future changes. In the end it was determined this item would be returned to council with more consideration in regard to the movement of traffic and the allowance of what turn lanes will impact traffic and in what way

The final motion for approval will be discussed and decided at next week’s Lancaster City Council meeting.

Lancaster ARPA Funds Program Launches September 6

LANCASTER – The Lancaster City Council voted unanimously earlier this week on an agenda item to approve a resolution detailing how the city’s Emergency Assistance Program (EAP) with funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CLFRF) will be distributed.

The terms were to engage in professional services between the City of Lancaster and Catholic Charities of Dallas for the purpose of administering these funds.

In October 2021, Lancaster City Council discussed eligible projects for funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Lancaster City Manager Opal Mauldin-Jones explained, “ARPA provides funding to local governments to broadly respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The City of Lancaster’s allocation is $9,720,147.20 divided into two equal transactions of $4,860,073.60.”

Lancaster received its first payment of $4,860,073.60 last month. The second payment is due a year later.

Mauldin-Jones explained how the funds will be used and said, “The City Council allocated funds to provide relief to the residents of Lancaster through a mortgage, internet and utility assistance program.”

The Lancaster City Council has allocated $250,000 for an Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, $144,000 for Internet Bill Assistance and $480,000 for Electricity Bill Assistance.

Catholic Charities of Dallas Will Administer Funds

The program will be administered by Catholic Charities of Dallas. According to Mauldin-Jones Catholic Charities meets the federal requirements to administer an Emergency Assistance Funding Program (EAP) and have worked with other cities to administer similar programs.

“Of the agencies staff has researched Catholic Charities meets the federal requirements and have the expertise to properly administer the funds and account for the funds,” Mauldin-Jones said.

Catholic Charities will receive a fee from the city for administering the program and will go live on September 6, 2022, for the program’s implementation. Eligibility will begin that day as well.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have a timeframe of five years with an ending date of December 2026 to administer funds.

“If we see by December no one is taking advantage of those funds we will already have paid Catholic Charities the fee, and that fee is just that fee, but we can re-allocate the remainder of our dollars to another project,” Mauldin-Jones concluded.

For additional information regarding eligibility for the city’s assistance program, visit the City website at www.lancaster-tx.com or e-mail communityrelations@lancaster-tx.com.