Rockdale is a small Central Texas community, seeking to reach into the 21st Century while holding onto its small town charm. We will use our location and natural advantages to help grow our economy.
The Texas Golden Triangle is home to 80% of Texas’ population and contains over 75% of the state’s economic activity. Rockdale is located inside the Triangle and is connected to the major markets of Austin, Waco, and Bryan-College Station by US. Highways. Rockdale is now included as a secondary market to Austin.
Rockdale sits at the intersection of US Highways 77 and 79, which allows access to multiple Interstate highways.
Rockdale is an hour away from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Rockdale is also about a three hour drive from deep-water and shallow draft port facilities.
Rockdale is near world-class research and talent. Rockdale is approximately one hour from the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University in College Station, and Baylor University in Waco – each categorized as a Carnegie Tier 1 research institution, offering hundreds of PhD programs and graduating thousands of students each year. Other nearby institutions include Southwestern University in Georgetown, Central Texas A&M in Killeen, Central Texas College, Temple College, and Blinn College.
Rockdale is in an air quality attainment county. This means that businesses locating in Milam County have to follow fewer environmental regulations.
Rockdale is located in a part of Texas that suffers few weather-related business interruptions. Rockdale is far enough inland where tropical storms are not as severe. Rockdale is located far enough south that winter storms are less damaging.
Rockdale is located in the de-regulated electricity market. Businesses locating in Rockdale are able to search for the best electricity rate offered in the competitive market.
Rockdale has nearly 500,000 gallons of water to sell each day without any additional supply or treatment capacity.
Rockdale’s community leadership recognizes that Rockdale is well positioned to take advantage of a unique opportunity to shape the community for generations.
Large regional industrial projects are driving growth in Rockdale. The recently announced Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics Center (AMLC), located at the 3,000 acre former ALCOA plant property, looks to have over 30 million square feet of industrial space under roof, creating thousands of well-paying jobs. The new Samsung plant in Taylor, about 25 miles from Rockdale, looks to have over 10,000 direct new jobs. Rockdale is well positioned to house industries in the semi-conductor supply chain. The Austin Tesla plant boasts of creating 30,000 jobs in the future.
Rockdale is working on developing a new 280 acre rail-served industrial park to complement the AMLC with suppliers, servicers, and smaller industries.
The future Interstate 14 corridor is slated to pass through Milam County, somewhere near Rockdale. Interstate 14 will create an east-west route through Texas and onto the Southeast United States.
Rockdale recently broke ground on a new 660+ unit subdivision.
Economic development incentives are best used under three circumstances: being a tie-breaker as a company considers Rockdale and other communities, helping manage risk for a company choosing Rockdale, and providing bridge financing for a new company.
The City of Rockdale and the Rockdale MDD offers a variety of incentive programs for catalyst projects that will add to the tax base, create high-paying jobs, and encourage redevelopment activity. Incentive packages are fully customized to meet the applicant’s unique needs.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the RMDD office for a pre-application conference prior to submitting an incentive application. RMDD staff reviews the completed application and makes their recommendation. All incentive agreements are subject to approval by the RMDD Board of Directors and/or the City of Rockdale.
Please contact the RMDD office at 512-446-2111 or info@rockdalemdd.org for any questions.
Only for projects inside the Rockdale Enterprise District. An IDA is a long-term (15+ years) non-annexation agreement and in return, the company agrees to make annual Payments In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT). The company is treated as a City utility customer but is not required to comply with City regulations.
The City of Rockdale is committed to having a development-friendly process.
City property taxes can be reduced by a certain percentage over a 10-year maximum period.
The City and/or RMDD may participate in sharing all or a portion of the costs of extending utility infrastructure to a site.
The RMDD may rebate a portion of costs associated with site environmental remediation and/or existing structure removal.
The City of Rockdale may reduce or rebate any development-related fee, e.g., building permit, inspection, etc.
The City of Rockdale may create a Public Improvement District (PID) or a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) to assist with a project’s financing.
All or a portion of Hotel Occupancy Taxes generated by a hotel project could be rebated back to the developer.
The RMDD may extend a loan to qualifying company and forgive all or a portion of the annual principal and/or interest payments based on performance.
The Federal government and State of Texas offer different economic development incentive programs and tools. The City of Rockdale and RMDD are ready to partner with applicants to access these programs.
Learn more about Rockdale’s economic development incentives by downloading the incentive policy.
Rockdale is 65 miles from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which provides direct flights to most major American destinations. Direct international flights are available to Amsterdam, Calgary, Frankfurt, London, Mexico City, Ontario, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Rockdale is within a three hour drive of major port facilities
ONCOR, the largest electricity delivery company in Texas, provides power to Rockdale.
Rockdale is located in the Texas de-regulated electricity market. Companies have the ability to shop for the best rate from a variety of providers.
The City of Rockdale is supplied by a network of 5 water wells. The City has approximately 700,000 daily gallons of available water to sell.
The City owns and operates its own wastewater treatment plant. The plant is currently running at 30% capacity and has the ability to treat additional flow.
Natural gas service is provided by Atmos Energy.