Throughout ADC’s history, its defense community members across the country have seen their local installations’ missions change, grow or shrink, often through federal adoption of a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) plan. Faced with economic change in their regions, community leaders have been forced to reimagine the real property, workforce and mission to thrive.

One successful redevelopment project is TexAmericas Center near Texarkana in Bowie County, Texas, which was home to the World War II-era Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant and Red River Army Depot, adjacent installations covering almost 40,000 acres.

For America’s Defense Communities magazine, ADC talked with TexAmericas Center Executive Director & CEO Scott Norton about how his community grew through the two BRAC rounds and his guidance for other communities that may face mission change down the road.

ADC: What has driven the success at TexAmericas over the years?

Norton: Our staff has worked diligently day in and day out to drive our organization to where it is today with the full support of our board of directors, federal, state, and local elected officials, our contractors, and our community that has rallied around our efforts. Each time we make a request for information or support, the responses are swift and thorough, guiding us to a result that drives us forward for an existing tenant or business prospect or resolve any issue we are experiencing.

Building those relationships through transparency and inclusion continues to benefit TexAmericas Center, our tenants, their employees the families of those employees and the economy throughout our region.

ADC: Without a BRAC round anytime soon, DOD is more likely to close just some portions of an installation, including in communities that have never gone through a redevelopment challenge. What is your guidance for them?

Norton: Build a concise and executable plan for the community through public involvement and with the expertise of those that have been through the process before and have learned best practices of acquiring the land for the community and how to ensure its best use. There are complicated and detailed issues that require expertise to ensure the property can truly benefit the community and partnering with organizations like the DOD Office of Local Defense Community Collaboration (OLDCC) is beneficial.

Additionally, getting involved in the Association of Defense Communities to make connections with communities and individuals that have been through this process would be extremely beneficial. TexAmericas Center joined ADC early in our existence and worked closely with the Office of Economic Adjustment, the predecessor to OLDCC, to really jumpstart the redevelopment efforts on our over 12,000 acres of former military property.

ADC: Is there hope you can offer community leaders who may fear there is no life after a closure or realignment, whether it’s a full base or a smaller number of facilities?

Norton: Closure and realignment are not ideal for any community, but they do create opportunity. The community and its leaders need to decide if they want to make the most of this opportunity by pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and getting to work for their community, or if they want this to be an event that negatively impacts their community for decades to come. The communities that have a path forward and work the plan as laid out following best practices, will have success over time but most likely not overnight.

We worked hard getting through the first stages of our plan, and it took a decade of dedicating time and resources to make that happen, and our region is reaping the benefits of those efforts today. It’s worth it—especially on the hard days, it’s worth it.

As one of my mentors used to say, “Ya gotta wanna.” I have that saying on my desk so I can see it every day to keep moving our project forward.