Conyers, Georgia based Pratt Industries announced that it will open a new box plant and shipping center in the Southwest Dallas County community of Cedar Hill, Texas. The company has leased one-million-square-feet of industrial space in a new business park on U.S. Highway 67 and plans to create 150 jobs at the new regional “manufacturing and innovation center.”
“We’re very honored to be in Cedar Hill and we’re committed to the great state of Texas,” said Anthony Pratt, Executive Chairman of Pratt Industries. “In fact, this is our fifth box factory here. We have long prided ourselves on the fact that we employ 11,000 Americans in well-paying, green-collar manufacturing jobs and we have now invested in America to the value of $10 billion. Cedar Hill will be our 71st factory in the United States.”
Pratt Industries is one of the country’s largest corrugated packaging manufacturers and the world’s largest, privately held producer of recycled container board. The company plans to invest more than $200 million in equipment, inventory and building improvements for the new plant.
According to local media reports, Pratt Industries is working with the city and Cedar Hill schools on an employee training and job development program.
“This joint collaboration with Cedar Hill and the school district is a great opportunity for us to encourage and invest in the community’s young talent and to help them find meaningful employment and long term financial stability,” said Pratt’s Division President Mike Tansey.
Hillwood, the project’s developer, announced last summer its plans for the 180-acre industrial park in which Pratt Industries will operate. The first phase includes a 1.1 million-square-foot building and a 225,000-square-foot building.
The entire business park is expected to generate more than $200 million in capital investment and create hundreds of jobs in Cedar Hill.
“The city’s partnership with Hillwood is already bearing fruit for our community through significant capital investment and well-paying green-collar jobs,” said Mayor Stephen Mason. “The Cedar Hill lease is one of the largest North Texas industrial transactions so far in 2022.”
Pratt Industries is the second corrugated company to announce plans this year for a major new facility in the Dallas area. In February, Dallas-based McKinley Packaging said it will spend more than $35 million to build a new box plant in Lancaster. The project add 125 jobs at the new plant scheduled to be completed at the end of this year.
