After operating for more than 16 years in the South Texas city of Alice, oil field services giant Halliburton Co. is moving forward with plans to auction off a shuttered facility there.
Houston-based Halliburton closed its 19.18-acre facility at 850 Commerce St. in Alice in March 2015, where it laid off 60 employees. The closure came during one of the bleakest periods in the crude oil price downturn when many companies were tightening their belts.
Some of the shuttered facility's employees were allowed to transfer to the company's facility off Loop 1604 in South San Antonio, but the Alice campus, with 103,338 square feet of office and industrial space, has remained empty.
Halliburton ultimately decided to divest the property and contracted Tulsa, Oklahoma-based real estate auction company Williams & Williams to handle the sale of the Alice facility and at least 10 more across the United States and Canada.
Crews were seen cleaning the Alice facility on Sept. 7. Halliburton officials told the San Antonio Business Journal that there are open houses for the property scheduled Sept. 9 and Sept. 16. Williams & Williams is holding the auction at 10 a.m. on Sept. 27 with an opening bid of $1 million. A brochure for the sale states that the auction will take place simultaneously at the property and online.
Williams & Williams Executive Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Sales Fontana Fitzwilson told the San Antonio Business Journal that Williams & Williams is auctioning the properties as part of a strategic partnership with Halliburton's brokerage firm of record.
After successfully auctioning 10 properties in eight states for Halliburton earlier this year, Fitzwilson said the company was given Alice and 10 other properties to sell. Williams & Williams has been marketing the property to companies in the oil and gas sector as well as other industries. Fitzwilson said she has fielded several calls about the Alice property from a variety of prospective buyers
"It's a great opportunity for someone," Fitzwilson said.
Jim Wells County Appraisal District records show that Halliburton bought the property in November 1999 and that it has an appraised value of nearly $2.1 million.
The Halliburton facility is one of several shuttered oil and gas company facilities in Alice, which is believed to be one of the hardest hit communities by the crude oil price downturn.
J.J. Johnston with the Alice Jim Wells County Economic Development Corp. told the San Antonio Business Journal that officials are working to diversify the city's economy and find new tenants or new industries to move into the facilities closed by Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford and other companies.
Describing Halliburton as a "marquis company" with a significant real estate asset and dozens of employees, Johnston said the layoffs and facility's closure set the city's economy back.
"Having them auction off their real estate assets here is a big wake up call to the community that we need to work with the company and their real estate team to find suitable new prospects to put into that building, preferably with high-paying jobs," Johnston said.
Halliburton Alice Facility By The Numbers:
19 buildings on the property
19.18 acres of land
103,338 square feet of office and industrial space
$1 million opening bid
$2.1 million appraised property value