TEMPLE (February 4, 2010)--More than two years has passed since Gulf States Toyota announced on Nov. 15, 2007 that it planned to build a 230,000-square-foot vehicle processing facility in Temple that would create about 250 jobs and could eventually employ as many as 500.

Gulf States said then that it planned to build the $50 million facility in Temple’s Rail Park at Central Pointe where workers would process and ship about 100,000 Toyota and Scion vehicles a year to a five state region, which includes Texas, Louisiana,

Click Here For The Full Press Release Announcing the Project

The facility was supposed to open next year, but the plot of land given to Toyota in northwest Temple still sits empty.

Temple Mayor Bill Jones said he spoke to Toyota representatives in January and says the construction plans have been pushed back

"We're waiting and what we're waiting for it for the automotive industry to come back."

"We are certainly hopeful that they're delayed a year, maybe 2 at the most,” he said.

“We may see something in 2012,” he said.

“But that's certainly not any commitment on (Toyota's) part, and we don't expect them to be able to make that determination at this point,” he said.

Recalls of millions of vehicles and the suspension of sales and production of eight popular models over concerns about sticking gas pedals cloud Toyotas economic future, and news about brake problems in Toyota’s 2010 Prius complicates matters further.

"They're addressing this situation probably as aggressively as any automotive company has addressed anything, by shutting down production facilities until they get the problem corrected,” Jones said.

“But I think in the long term, they're going to come out of this very, very strong."

Gulf States Toyota didn’t respond to calls and e-mails Thursday.