Visual Lighting Technologies installed a Fiber Optic Chandelier system inside of a Sephora in New York. The company is planning to expand its operations to Cedar Park.[/caption]

Add another to the list of national and international companies moving to Cedar Park.

Cedar Park City Council approved an economic development performance-based agreement Thursday evening with Visual Lighting Technologies, a California company looking to expand its operations into Texas.

The company assembles and manufactures LED and fiber-optic lighting equipment for high-end luxury retail stores, hospitality establishments, residential developers and wholesale. The company ships its inventory nationally and internationally, including recent shipments to China, said Larry Ruggiano, the city's assistant director of economic development.

The company plans to expand from southern California with the purchase of a 21,529-square-foot building inside the Hur Industrial Park at 1809 Hur Industrial Blvd., Cedar Park.

“They prefer the traffic here over California,” Ruggiano said to council members.

Visual Lighting Technologies would invest approximately $3 million in the building and equipment, he said.

Per the agreement, the company must purchase the building no later than Sept. 1, 2017, and employ no less than 38 full-time employees, with an annual payroll of $1.75 million, by no later than Dec. 31.

As an economic development incentive, the city of Cedar Park would provide $100,000, or $2,632 per job, to the company no earlier than Dec. 31. Ruggiano said the incentive project provides a rate of return to the city of Cedar Park of 20.5 percent, and the payback period is 2 1/2 years.

Aside from the addition of 38 jobs and $1.75 million annual payroll into the city, the economic benefits to Cedar Park include new sales tax revenue generated by the company and additional capital investments. Ruggiano said the company may someday expand the building, which can accommodate an additional 8,000 square feet, and add more jobs.

Cedar Park Economic Development Corporation, also known as the 4A board, passed a resolution March 20 approving the performance-based incentive agreement, and City Council approved the agreement unanimously at its April 13 meeting.

Daniel Haydt, the president of Visual Lighting Technologies, told City Council his company was excited about moving into the community.

“We have employees with feet on the ground already doing some preliminary stuff for this building, and they’re very excited to be in Cedar Park,” he said. “This city is fantastic, everything we’ve seen about it. … We feel this is a great place to be.”