Next American manufacturing renaissance headed for the heart of the Texas Triangle

AUSTIN, Jan. 15, 2025 – The former Alcoa Industrial Enterprise outside of Rockdale, Texas – once deemed the largest aluminum smelter in the world – is positioned for complete metamorphosis. The 50-square-mile site is being transformed into Sandow Lakes, a “mixed-use super-site,” in the words of Xebec founder Randy Kendrick. Dallas-based developer Xebec and real estate services firm JLL today announce phase one of the development, the Advanced Manufacturing Logistix Campus (AMLC) at Sandow Lakes. Regarded as the only megasite in Texas – or industrial park setting outfitted with abundant electrical power, water, rail, natural gas and access to the interstate – Sandow Lakes is expected to attract manufacturing users from around the world.

JLL Senior Managing Directors Ace Schlameus, Zane Cole, Richard Quarles, Kurt Griffin and Nathan Orbin, as well as Executive Managing Director Greg Matter will be handling industrial leasing for AMLC at Sandow Lakes on behalf of Xebec.

Designed to be a thriving, dynamic environment at the intersection of sustainability and innovation, the 33,000-acre Sandow Lakes megasite includes plans for a new kind of community. Connected by a series of lakes, Sandow Lakes will feature multiple communities, which will include residential, retail, office, hospitality and leisure facilities. Construction on phase one of the project – AMLC at Sandow Lakes – commenced in Q3 2024 and will be ready for occupancy by Q3 2026.

“As manufacturing users evaluate people, power and place during the site selection process, there is no other site that checks each of these crucial boxes like AMLC at Sandow Lakes,” said Greg Matter, Head of Advanced Manufacturing at JLL. “We are thrilled to be a part of ushering in the future of innovation and clean energy on a global scale, in one of the fastest growing population areas in the nation.”

With up to 35 million square feet of best-in-class industrial capacity, AMLC at Sandow Lakes will be a one-of-a-kind manufacturing and logistics operation on the largest scale in Texas. The site offers full build-to-suit opportunities with little to no design constraints, ideal for users ranging from distribution to manufacturing, including cold storage and light industrial. A typical buildout for industrial facilities at AMLC at Sandow Lakes will include microgrid solar power, flexible clear heights and bay spacing, rainwater harvesting, LED and motion-censored lighting, among other key inclusions. Flexible space solutions will allow for manufacturing and logistics facilities to meet any need.

Sandow Lakes will employ world-leading sustainability measures to achieve a carbon net zero campus. Key aspects of the site’s infrastructure, such as availability of potable water and water treatment, access to commercial landfills, as well as ERCOT power and natural gas, make it the premier clean energy destination of the future. To further optimize connection and convenience, AMLC at Sandow Lakes will also feature fully automated, private onsite rail intermodal transportation, with a loading bay and seven miles of tracks joining the Union Pacific Rail Line.

“Strategically located in the heart of the Texas Triangle, you’re 20 minutes from Taylor where Samsung is currently building the most advanced chip fab in the country, and 45 minutes from the Tesla Giga Texas campus,” Xebec CEO Randy Kendrick said in a statement. “It’s half an hour from Austin and easily accessible to College Station and Waco. The mixed-use super-structure will be best-in-class, and stand at the nexus of people, power and place, enabling the reshoring of critical manufacturing and supply chains back to America. We believe in the potential of our project to drive job growth, prosperity and economic security to Texas for generations to come.”

The Texas Triangle – the region of the state featuring its five largest cities and the majority of the population – was strategically chosen as the backdrop for Xebec’s Sandow Lakes project. Situated 25 miles from Austin, 53 miles from College Station, and within two and a half hours from Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, the megasite provides occupiers with unparalleled access to the region as well as the global market through connectivity to commercial airports in Austin, Houston and Dallas. An emerging destination for manufacturing and logistics, AMLC at Sandow Lakes’ premier location also boasts direct access to U.S. Highways 77 and 79 and proximity to Interstates 35 and 45. With 19 million people living in the Texas Triangle alone, the region is poised to grow an additional 3.5% by 2030.

John Gates, JLL’s Chief Executive Officer of Americas Markets, added, “we are in the midst of an American manufacturing renaissance. With access to skilled talent, abundant power, water and land for expansion, the Advanced Manufacturing Logistix Campus at Sandow Lakes represents a transformative opportunity to attract global manufacturers to the region.”

More information on the AMLC at Sandow Lakes project can be found here.

Xebec is a privately held real estate investment platform that provides vertically integrated and full-service real estate acquisition, development, ownership, financing, leasing, property management and real estate investment management services. Xebec focuses on fulfillment, warehouse and distribution centers (bulk logistics), light industrial and infill/last-mile properties located primarily in U.S. coastal and inland logistics markets near major port and rail terminals and trucking intermodal infrastructures which Xebec refers to as “tier-one” logistics markets. Xebec’s roots date to 1986, with a focus on infill industrial development in the highly competitive central market of Los Angeles. In 1996, Randy Kendrick formed the Xebec franchise and built the firm into one of the top industrial developers in Southern California, which in 2024 was recognized as the second largest industrial developer in Los Angeles County.