254 Biz newsletter: Monday, Nov. 2, 2026

🖥️ Data-hosting permits in Comanche County, a Panda Express for Waco and 183 new sales tax permits

In today's edition: - Five companies get permits at two Comanche County sites - A Panda Express for Waco and a bigger Killeen sanctuary - 183 new sales tax permits across the 254

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

Cloud companies in Comanche County. The Texas Comptroller issued five new sales tax permits on Oct. 30 to Dallas-based companies at two Comanche County sites: Innomatrix Downing AIDC I LLC, Downing Cloud LLC and Downing Operations LLC at 4574 FM 2318, and Innomatrix Comanche AIDC LLC and Comanche Cloud LLC at 11420 Highway 36. The two "Cloud" companies are filed under the federal industry code for computing infrastructure, data processing and web hosting. The permits don't say what's planned at either address. Full story

A Panda Express for Waco. Panda Express filed with the state for a $2 million, 2,700-square-foot ground-up restaurant at 1135 N. Loop 340. The filing names Lacetex AOS Partners LLC as owner and idGroup as designer. Work is scheduled from Sept. 7, 2027, to March 20, 2028. Full story

A bigger sanctuary in Killeen. Liberty Christian Center registered a $1.8 million, 9,000-square-foot addition at 4107 Westcliff Road that replaces its existing sanctuary with a larger one. MRB Group is the designer. Work is scheduled from Jan. 1, 2027, to Jan. 1, 2028.

New permits, by the numbers. The Comptroller added 183 new sales tax permits for outlets in the 254 area from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31, not counting Williamson and Travis counties. Bell led with 50, followed by McLennan (48), Hood (14), Coryell (12) and Navarro (8). Twenty-two were restaurant or food-service outlets. Full story

T-Mobile's paperwork. T-Mobile Financial LLC got new sales tax permits on Oct. 27 for 19 outlets across the 254, from Temple and Killeen to Stephenville and Corsicana. A new permit can mean a new owner of record; 254 Biz has not confirmed what it means for the stores.

Chick-fil-A at Stargate. A permit issued Oct. 24 lists an outlet named "Chick-fil-A at Stargate Milam County ADP" on County Road 134 in Milam County, with first sales on Oct. 1.

Austin layoffs on file. Three Herzog companies told the Texas Workforce Commission on Oct. 27 that they will lay off 109 workers in Austin on Dec. 31: Herzog Transit Services (84), Herzog Contracting (15) and Herzog Technologies (10). Full story

Snippets: - Temple: Zaxby's, 2002 S. 31st St.; The Huddle, 7373 Honeysuckle; Mercy Table Cafe, 1150 Canyon Creek Drive; Snack Mart 5, 7649 Aycock Road (new TABC wine and beer permit, Oct. 30). - Waco: TJ Maxx, 4328 W. Waco Drive; Sleep Number, 2808 W. Loop 340; Austin's, 719 Austin Ave.; Crown & Curio Auction Services LLC, 707 Austin Ave.; Greenlife Nursery & Landscaping, 1312 N. New Road. - Hewitt and Woodway: Hewitt Vision PLLC, 502 N. Hewitt Drive; Woodway Pilates LLC, 310 Westlane Circle. - Belton: Belton Eye Care Center PLLC, 2609 N. Main St.; Taqueria El Taco LLC, 609 E. 6th Ave. - Hillsboro: Schlotzsky's, 200 I-35 SW. - West: Dragon Fire Wok, 509 W. Oak St.

Permits and filings: - Casey's filed for a $780,000 remodel of its convenience store at 201 W. Frederick St. in Riesel, with Fikes Wholesale Inc. as owner and The Dimension Group as designer, from Jan. 11 to March 15. - Antioch Community Church of Waco filed for a $150,000 "House of Prayer" renovation at 505 N. 20th St., Nov. 1 to March 1. - Actian Labs filed for a $493,406 executive briefing suite at 710 Hesters Crossing in Round Rock, with Corgan as designer. - In Austin, a Renesas office remodel at 3700 N. Capital of Texas Highway tops the week at $14 million. Neuralink filed for a $2.7 million vivarium research building in Del Valle, and Samsung Austin Semiconductor for a $350,000 generator pad at its Fire Water Pump Building.

Significant stat: 30 of 35. That's how many of the state construction filings added in 254 Biz counties since our last edition were in Travis County.

Daily digit: $54.4 million. That's the owners' estimated value of the 35 commercial projects added to the state's list in 254 Biz counties since our last edition, dated Oct. 27 to Oct. 30.

Markets & Money:

• Rates: The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.24% for the week of Oct. 29, 2026 (down 0.08 points from the week before); the 15-year averaged 6.60%. (Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey)
• Rates: The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.94% on Oct. 30, 2026, down 0.06 points from a week earlier. (U.S. Treasury, daily par yield curve rates)
• Fuel: Regular gasoline averaged $3.63 a gallon in Texas for the week of Oct. 26, 2026 (down 7.2 cents); diesel averaged $5.95 on the Gulf Coast (up 4.8 cents). (U.S. Energy Information Administration, weekly retail prices)
• Cattle and grain: Front-month futures, latest prices as of early Nov. 2, 2026: Live cattle 224.00 cents a pound (down 2.6% on the week); feeder cattle 337.77 cents a pound (down 3.0% on the week); corn 449.75 cents a bushel (down 1.2% on the week); wheat 602.75 cents a bushel (down 2.2% on the week). (CME Group and CBOT futures (via Yahoo Finance))
• Central Texas homes: In September 2026, Killeen-Temple had 2,448 active listings at a median list price of $279,000 (6.0% lower than a year earlier), with a median 74 days on market; Waco had 1,642 active listings at a median list price of $309,225 (2.8% lower than a year earlier), with a median 78 days on market. These are listing figures, not closed sales. (Realtor.com monthly housing inventory data, by metro)
• Crypto: The four most-traded cryptocurrencies by 24-hour volume, not counting stablecoins and gold-backed tokens, as of 3:02 AM CT Nov. 2, 2026: Bitcoin (BTC) $78,214, down 2.3% over 7 days; Ethereum (ETH) $2,297, down 0.9% over 7 days; Solana (SOL) $94.67, down 6.0% over 7 days; Hyperliquid (HYPE) $86.68, up 12.9% over 7 days. (CoinGecko)

Market figures are for information only and are not investment advice.

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