Council-approved GEDC director inherits Camp Howze rail park, Highway 82 retail

The Gainesville City Council voted 6-0 on Jan. 20 to approve Matt Carlson's contract as executive director of the sales-tax-funded Gainesville Economic Development Corporation, city records show. Carlson's announcement named Feb. 9 as the start of his Gainesville role. The job comes with an industrial rail park still waiting on train service and a Highway 82 shopping corner where stores have begun to open.

Carlson's hiring came after a June 11, 2025, vote by the GEDC board not to renew director William Myers' contract, the city said in a June 16 statement. On July 28, the board approved a severance agreement with Myers 7-0, according to that meeting's minutes. A city memo shows the board hired Nancy Arleene Loyd the same day as interim director, paid by the hour. Strategic Government Resources ran the search for a permanent director, according to the firm's recruitment brochure.

On March 17, the council voted 5-0 to amend GEDC's bylaws and, by the same margin, to appoint Jacob Whiteman to the board, according to the meeting minutes. The minutes do not say what the bylaw changes did. The appointment memo lists Whiteman with Safran Industries and says he would serve out Lauri Johnson's term through August 2026.

GEDC says it was formed in 1994 as a Type B corporation funded by a quarter-cent sales and use tax. That works out to a quarter of a penny on each taxable dollar. Under state comptroller guidance, directors of such corporations serve at the council's pleasure.

GEDC describes Camp Howze Industrial Rail Park as 480 acres off Interstate 35 in northwest Gainesville, between BNSF's main line and FM 1202. A June 18 developer release posted by the city said work on the rail connection had begun. It put expected service in the second quarter of 2027 and named Buzzi Unicem Cement as the first customer. The city's fiscal 2025 financial report forecasts about 500 jobs there.

The park dates to July 2021. That month the council unanimously approved a purchase-and-development agreement with Strategic Rail for Gateway Industrial Park, a GEDC site finished in 2014, according to GEDC's announcement. Under the agreement, GEDC would finance about half the price with a note. The developer could have the note forgiven by meeting investment and hiring goals over seven years. A tax increment zone at Camp Howze sets aside half the growth in property-tax revenue there through 2047, a 2025 city bond offering statement says.

At Grand Avenue and Highway 82, the city manager reported April 2 that McDonald's and 7-Eleven had opened and ALDI had started construction. An ALDI hiring notice listed September as the expected opening. As of Sept. 30, 2025, GEDC had paid two-thirds of the incentive it promised that site's developer, the financial report shows.

Census estimates show Gainesville's population grew about 7% from 2020 to mid-2025. In Valley View, H-E-B said in its Jan. 30 announcement that it had bought more than 600 acres for a supply-chain campus. The company said planning was preliminary and no construction timetable existed.