News

Aug 22, 2023

KISD board to consider land purchase for new administration building

Reporter Killeen ISD trustees will consider a resolution Tuesday to purchase a 33.75-acre parcel of land at 777 Twin Creek Drive that includes the Teleperformance building to “serve as the school

Reporter

Killeen ISD trustees will consider a resolution Tuesday to purchase a 33.75-acre parcel of land at 777 Twin Creek Drive that includes the Teleperformance building to “serve as the school district’s Administration Building.”

No timeline has been confirmed for the purchase or for the remodeling, which will need to be completed before occupancy by the district.

The 133,000-square-foot facility and surrounding property is listed with the Bell County Appraisal District with a market value of $7.13 million.

A statement from the district’s communications director, Taina Maya, said, “The board is considering the purchase of the existing Teleperformance property to serve as a future consolidated central administration campus.

“This building would alleviate the need to house central administration in portable buildings and decommissioned school buildings across the district’s footprint. It would serve to improve efficiencies amongst district departments and would provide the community with one location to visit in the event they need to meet with district administrators.”

According to the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, trustees plan to vote on adopting the resolution that will authorize Superintendent Jo Ann Fey to negotiate final terms, execute a real estate sales contract and take related actions necessary to complete the purchase.

Further in the resolution, it states that “the board believes such property is necessary for use to meet the education needs of the students residing in the District and to allow for future expansion to meet the District’s needs.”

The location on Twin Creek Drive was home to a Sallie Mae service center for 20 years before the company closed its Killeen operation in 2010. About 350 Sallie Mae employees went to work for Aegis when that company took over the building in 2010. After merging with Aegis in 2015, Teleperformance took over operations at the building.

In 1988, the Student Loan Marketing Association, or Sallie Mae, planned a multimillion-dollar facility for the location, and the city agreed to a five-year tax abatement for the operation.

The 33-acre tract Sallie Mae bought in the Killeen Business Park on the west side of Twin Creek Drive, directly across the street from the previous location, became home to a $6 million, 69,500-square-foot, two-story building that has a college campus look.

By the time the new office opened in the summer of 1991, almost 400 people were working for Sallie Mae’s Killeen operation.

Sallie Mae officials at the time thought the new facility would suit the operation for some time down the road, but in 1992, the company broke ground on a $5.3 million, 66,000-square-foot expansion the following year, bringing the building to its current size.

By 1996, about 700 people worked in the huge facility, which featured its own cafeteria.

The number of employees at the Killeen location rose to around 1,000 in the early 2000s, before falling to 500 in 2010.

A former longtime Teleperformance employee said that the building was largely empty as of late, with most employees working from home in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.

A KISD board member told the Herald on Monday that a Teleperformance representative approached the district about the possible sale and said the company didn’t need all that space.

KISD, on the other hand, does need the space.

Maya said late Monday that the current KISD administration offices, built in 1977, encompasses 18,525 square feet and houses about 65 employees.

Other district administration employees work out of portable buildings, at the administration annex on Rancier Avenue and other district facilities.

[email protected] | 254-501-7551

Reporter

A new palace for the new superintendent?

The article states QUOTE A KISD board member told the Herald on Monday that a Teleperformance representative approached the district about the possible sale and said the company didn’t need all that space. END OF QUOTE. So there was no clear motivation for a new facility until Teleperformance brought it up? Highly suspicious.

So taxes will go up on residents whose mean income is about $52,000 per year. These residents are taxed to pay a deputy who makes about four times the mean income, and a superintendent who makes about six times the mean income.

Yes. In a time when crime is out the door and costs are high let's tax them some more.. How about more Police officers on patrol. Just invent new taxes and solve everything

Of course you are It isn't your money, it is taxpayer money and you treat it like monopoly money

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