A new privately developed 1,500-acre business and industrial park near the intersection of Interstate 20 and Texas 31 is negotiating with prospective tenants.

River Bend Industrial Park is jointly spearheaded by MB Cos. of Kilgore and 4S Oil Company, according to Julie Woods, spokeswoman for the developers. MB is owned by Kenny Mobbs and Randy Brogoitti while 4S is owned by the Smith family, including former Gregg County Judge Mickey Smith, former County Commissioner Denny Smith and their sister, Sanny Sue Holland-Hoffman, Woods said.

"We're in negotiations with a number of prospects," Woods said Friday afternoon, adding that "several big box" companies are considering the development.

Woods said access to major highways, including I-20 and U.S. 259, make the site ideal for distribution and manufacturing facilities.

The development is north of I-20 and west of Texas 31 and runs behind Matsu Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar, Woods said. It includes a landfill site leased to Allied Waste and property once committed for a newsprint production facility.The Southland Newsprint plant never materialized.

Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt said he is "excited about the potential for increasing the county's tax base."

"Anytime you have a major new development like this it helps spread out the tax burden and really benefits everyone," Stoudt said.

He said the new park will not really compete with municipal business parks such as Kilgore's Synergy Park and Longview Business Park.

"This is more for oil-field related and heavy distribution businesses," Stoudt said. "Being close to both I-20 and U.S. 259 like it is, it has great potential."

Part of the development is within the Sabine Independent School District. Superintendent Stacey Bryce said Friday, "We're excited about the potential for an increase in the district's tax base."

Developers said the property represents one of the largest contiguous tracts of industrial and commercial property in East Texas. A formal announcement event is scheduled May 22.

Woods said the development will be divided in three: a 175-acre industrial park, a 500-acre business center and a 300-acre wetland and wildlife preserve.

"The River Bend Industrial park will attract medium to light duty industrial businesses while the River Bend Business Center will house retail and commercial facilities for restaurants, shops, hotels/motels and light business space," Woods said.

Woods said the landfill will not be a detriment to attracting other tenants.

"In fact, we have some who have expressed an interest in using methane gas from the landfill to help power their facilities," Woods said. The development also contains a 7,500-square-foot shell building.It in turn encompasses about 3,000 square feet of office space and about 4,500 square feet of warehouse or production space, Woods said.

She said the owners have been working on plans to market the development for more than a year.