254 Biz newsletter: Friday, Oct. 30, 2026

🏗️ A $20.5M Bell County annex, Temple's sales tax surge and 552 new permits

In today's edition: - Bell County files a $20.5 million Justice Center Annex - Temple's October sales tax check is up 16.6% - 552 new sales tax permits across the 254

Plus, more bite-size news about business in Central Texas.

A $550M data center shell in Hutto. Hutto Data Center Campus LLC registered a $550 million, 846,300-square-foot core-and-shell building at 3399 County Road 132 (Building 4) with the state on Sept. 30. The filing describes a one-story building with a future use as a data center, plus an attached office of about 20,000 square feet. Corgan Associates Inc. is the designer. Work is scheduled from Jan. 20, 2027, to Oct. 30, 2028.

A $20.5M annex for Belton. Bell County registered a $20.47 million, 28,728-square-foot Justice Center Annex at 1350 Huey Drive with the state on Oct. 9. Burns Architecture is the designer. Work is scheduled to start Dec. 1 and run through April 15, 2028. Full story

Temple's allocation jumps. Temple got $3.52 million in October local sales tax from the Comptroller, up 16.55% from a year earlier. Waco got $5.19 million (up 3.44%) and Killeen $2.83 million (up 0.65%). Full story Full story

New permits, by the numbers. The Texas Comptroller issued 552 new sales tax permits to outlets in the 254 area between Sept. 30 and Oct. 24, not counting Williamson and Travis counties. Bell led with 170, followed by McLennan (117), Hood (36), Coryell (27), Hill (25) and Erath (22). Fifty-one were restaurant or food-service outlets.

New companies. Texas recorded 157 new franchise-tax entities with addresses in the 254 area (outside Williamson and Travis) chartered in the window. Most were LLCs, led by McLennan (49) and Bell (37).

New permits for two Waco hotels. New sales tax permits went to SpringHill Suites by Marriott Waco Woodway at 200 Colonnade Parkway (Oct. 10) and Everhome Suites Waco at 4301 S. Jack Kultgen Expressway (Oct. 1).

Temple layoffs on file. Revol Greens Tx LLC told the Texas Workforce Commission in a WARN notice dated Aug. 5 that it would lay off 115 workers in Temple, with a layoff date of Oct. 15. It's the only 2026 WARN notice so far for a 254-area county outside Williamson and Travis.

New permits at three funeral properties. SIG - TX Assets LLC got new sales tax permits Oct. 7 for Waco Memorial Park and Chapel Hill Memorial Park on I-35 in Robinson and for Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral & Cremations at 6101 Bosque Blvd. The permits show a new taxpayer of record at the three sites; 254 Biz has not confirmed whether the properties changed hands.

Snippets: - Waco: Sora Cafe by Marilyn and Sora Spa & Studio LLC, 2325 Marketplace Drive; La Hacienda San Diego, 1229 N. 18th St.; Local Waco LLC (grocery), 1009 Columbus Ave.; Franklin Belt Company, 2425 Austin Ave.; Metz Socket LLC, 1305 W. Waco Drive; TG Waco (amusement/entertainment), 2301 Creekview Drive. All got new sales tax permits. - Hewitt: Midway Nutrition LLC, 511 N. Hewitt Drive, Suite 6. - Killeen: The Saddle Bar & Restaurant, 3100 E. Central Texas Expressway; Yummy Pho, 2600 Trimmier Road; Saltriver Restaurant, 809 N. 2nd St.; On What Grounds Coffeehouse, 220 E. Avenue D; Bailey's, 313 N. 8th St.; Arrowhead Fitness, 2802 W. Stan Schlueter Loop; Third Space, 1200 Lowes Blvd. - Belton: Luigi's Italian Restaurant, 2805 N. Loop 121; Pearl's Perch, 312 N. East St. - Copperas Cove: XQ Lucky Restaurant Inc., 175 W. Business 190.

Permits and filings: - Ollie's Bargain Outlet applied to the City of Temple for an interior upfit at 2603 Thornton Lane. The matching state filing puts the job at $560,000 and 33,504 square feet, with South Loop Shopping Center Ltd. as owner and RRMM Architects as designer, from Dec. 14 to March 10. - A Temple application covers demolishing the existing store at 5421 S. General Bruce Drive to build a new store for Templetx Food Mart. - Other Temple commercial applications: changes of occupancy for Cattlemen's Western Wear at 13 S. 2nd St., Puff Palace Smoke Shop at 104 N. 27th St., A Plus Cremation at 403 Van Dyck and Harvest Church at 303 N. 7th St.; a remodel creating a new business space at 19 S. 2nd St., with Miso Nation LLC listed as contractor; a trash enclosure at Walmart, 6801 W. Adams Ave., racking at Equipment Depot, 2441 Seah Drive, and signs for Public Storage (2708 S. 39th St.) and Total Wireless (1402 S. 31st St.). - GeoQuest USA Inc. filed for a $1.1 million, 8,000-square-foot precast concrete panel production building at 136 Waco Sand Road, scheduled Nov. 26 to March 29. - 7Brew filed for a $1.5 million coffee shop at 1080 S. Fort Hood St. in Killeen, scheduled March 8 to July 9.

Significant stat: 60. That's the number of single-family home permits the City of Killeen issued in September 2026, against 2 duplex permits and none for townhomes or multifamily. Its major commercial permits table for the month was empty.

Daily digit: $71 million. That's the estimated cost of Corsicana High School renovations and additions registered with the state on Oct. 6, the largest filing this month in the 254 area outside Williamson County. (Corsicana itself is in the 903 area code. Navarro County is a 254 edge county.)

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