The Woodlands Township Board of Directors approved a seven-year property tax abatement, or a tax break, to Kiewit for the company to relocate its headquarters to Research Forest Drive. Montgomery County commissioners also approved the abatement for county property taxes for Kiewit.

Gil Staley, CEO of The Woodlands Area Economic Development Partnership, said Kiewit will occupy 70,000 square feet of a 90,000-square-foot facility on Research Forest Drive and will bring about 160 jobs to the community.

"It was a competitive situation to get this," Staley said.

Kiewit's relocation is expected to be complete by January 2015. The tax abatement begins Jan. 1 of that year and extends through Dec. 31, 2021. Kiewit will be exempt from paying property tax on value added to the property for the first four years of the agreement. In 2019, Kiewit will pay 25 percent of the added value tax, 50 percent in 2020 and 75 percent in 2021, according to township documents.

The land that will house the Kiewit headquarters is currently valued at about $1.5 million. Kiewit will pay property taxes on the base value of the land, without improvements.

The company specializes in building, mining, oil and gas, and chemicals, power, transportation and wastewater.

Bob Nussmeier, senior manager of business development for Kiewit, said the company could double the number of employees at its Woodlands office over the next few years.