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Mike Copeland: Keeping cool at L3Harris; Onward Real Estate; Waco Under 40; Restaurant roundup – Waco Tribune-Herald

The L3Harris aircraft modification plant in Waco has a lot of space and a lot of people to keep cool: a half-million square feet and 1,200, respectively.

So the game plan includes ice chests filled with ice water, neck cooling wraps, electrolyte popsicles, extra fans for use inside aircraft, one-ton coolers that will run on 120 volts, and available tents and umbrellas.

“With temperatures expected to remain over 100 degrees all over Texas the next couple of weeks, L3Harris employees are doing their best to stay cool during record heat. Chests with free ice-cold bottled water stocked at all the break rooms, electrolyte popsicles and old-fashioned ice cream socials are working to keep employees cool,” spokesperson Marcella Thompson said.

Thompson, in an email response, said

L3Harris locally and systemwide is taking other steps to conserve energy, including night and weekend setbacks on air conditioning, Thompson said in an email. L3Harris aso uses LED lighting or reduced lighting and limits outside air intakes where possible, Thompson said.

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Asked if there are any functions L3Harris has discontinued due to heat, Thompson said, “Not at this time, encouraging constant hydration.”

Onward Real Estate

The Harrell Team, a longtime fixture on the local real estate scene, has become the Onward Real Estate Team, Chief Operating Officer Kyle Cox said.

“Of note, Brad and Melissa Harrell are still the owners and we have the same great staff,” Cox said by email. “This was simply an effort to more accurately identify and project who we are and want to be as a company. It’s indicative of forward movement, progress, commitment and resolve.”

The company’s new website is onwardret.com.

Team members include Keller Williams Residential Realty, KW Commercial Realty, Alliance Property Management, Lindon Holdings Land Development and HarCo Investment LLC, Cox said.

BRIC-adjacent purchase

Baylor University recently closed on the purchase of a 4-acre tract next to the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative at 100 Research Parkway. That is the former General Tire & Rubber Co. plant that began shutting down operations in the 1980s.

Baylor-anchored activities there commenced in 2013 following an extensive remodel.

Waco industrial real estate specialist Bland Cromwell said Baylor showed interest in the adjacent 4 acres since talks about BRIC began.

“It was kind of the last piece of the whole first project. It just took a while,” Cromwell said. “It was one little building just south of BRIC.”

“We have no immediate plans for the property, but it will provide future growth opportunities for Baylor to expand R1-related (research) activities long term,” university spokesperson Lori Fogleman said by email.

The seller was WGLT LLC, whose agent is Waco businessman Gordon Robinson.

Equity Fund

To help minority-owned businesses survive the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cen-Tex African American Chamber launched its Cen-Tex Minority Business Equity Fund. Donations from the public and private sectors continue to support the program. The McLennan County Commissioners Court allocated $50,000 in COVID-19-related relief money to the Equity Fund, prompting a “thank you” from the chamber in a press release. Recent funding recipients include Sweep, Symphony Candle Co., Roc My Style, Glyphx Design, 4 Sons Trucking, the Relationship Clinic and KDR Transport LLC, the press release says.

Anyone interested in contributing to the Equity Fund can find more information at centexchamber.com.

Waco Under 40

The Greater Waco Chamber has announced its Waco Under 40 award honorees. The program is geared to identify local leaders under the age of 40, and encourage young people to become leaders. A ceremony is scheduled Nov. 3 at Bird-Kultgen Ford.

The list includes Dr. Oluwarotimi Adesina, Ascension Providence; Trevor Beuerlein, Beuerlein Angus Ranch; Krista Brinser, Baylor University; Adrian Fajardo, Waco ISD; Carole Fergusson, Keep Waco Beautiful; Mark Firmin, Beard Kultgen Brophy Bostwick & Dickson law firm; Dr. Danielle Geshay, Brazos Braces Orthodontics; Evan Hankins, First National Bank of Central Texas; and Christina Helmick, Extraco Banks; Matt Helton, Central National Bank; Kristina Holcomb, Premier ER and Urgent Care; Chris Martin, Ideal Self Storage; Gary Pilant, Community Bank & Trust; Calvin Schoenfeld, L3Harris; Dr. Tyler Snedden, Texas Oncology-Waco; Megan Snipes, Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center; Juan Tello, BancorpSouth; and Kent Willis, Pattillo, Brown & Hill LLP.

Restaurant roundup

On the dining scene, Mac House, the food kiosk on Franklin Avenue that sells variations on macaroni and cheese plus salads and sandwiches, will close at the end of the month, according to a note at the Mac House site. It will shift to operating a food truck and catering.

Pop’s Lemonade will take over the kiosk, its first brick-and-mortar location.

Tiny Pies, which stared in Austin and has four locations there, will open a shop in Union Hall, the food hall at Eighth Street and Franklin Avenue. A boxed dozen arrived at the Tribune-Herald newsroom Thursday, and the name says it all. The homemade product fits comfortably in the hand, somewhat like a fruit-filled kolache, and tastes like a slice of something grandma used to make.

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