Several exciting business initiatives are taking off in the city of Fort Worth, including a new $80 million distribution facility and projects promising hundreds of new jobs in the aerospace sector. In an interview with Invest:, Robert Sturns, director of economic development, said the secret sauce is a great team working together to push things forward.
What are the major highlights and milestones for the department over the past year?
It’s been a very busy time in Fort Worth. There was a recent announcement about another large-scale distribution center coming here in addition to the $80 million facility we are already working on. We won the expansion of a software company out of Washington, which will bring in about 300 jobs. MP Materials has decided to set up operations here, recently topping out on their rare earth magnet manufacturing facility; it’s the first facility of its kind in the U.S. GKN Aerospace is also constructing a center of excellence in Fort Worth, which is focused on R&D, technology and manufacturing; there are about 250 jobs tied to that project. On the hospitality front, Northland Properties has recently opened a 245 room, 20-story Sandman Signature Hotel in a mid-century art deco building in Downtown – not far from our expanding convention center.
A small Estonian company called Clevon opened within our Mobility Innovation Zone in north Fort Worth, producing electric autonomous delivery robots – their first delivery took place in December of last year. Bell Helicopter was approved to develop a long-range assault aircraft contract from the Army, and that’s going to be a massive development for Fort Worth that will generate a lot of new jobs.
What has made the Economic Development Department so successful at attracting these new and relocating businesses to the area?
We have a great business-friendly environment. Our mayor and council are aggressive in working to get deals moving. We have a great team that is passionate about the work that they do, and we have great partnerships with our real estate community. I think all those things come together and are underpinned by the hard work of the team. That’s our secret sauce.
Are there any particular areas or communities that are hotbeds of activity in Fort Worth?
Since its inception, the AllianceTexas corridor has attracted about $111 billion in economic impact, so there have been a number of opportunities in that part of town. But going forward, there are some areas of growth in west Fort Worth, specifically Walsh Ranch and Veale Ranch, that we’re focused on. There’s a lot of talk about mega-sites, and Walsh and Veale in particular are two locations that we are pitching regularly for these types of projects. There is also going to be sustained growth Downtown and in Fort Worth’s Near Southside; we have a very dense Central Business District with surrounding neighborhoods that are still growing.
What are Fort Worth’s biggest challenges and opportunities?
We’ve set ourselves up very well. One of the big concerns that emerged when we did our original strategic plan in 2017 was the lack of large-scale class-A office space within our Central Business District. While that has been a focus for us, the post-pandemic return to the office environment – or lack thereof – means cities across the country are seeing a lot of large-scale office users and developers converting these spaces to residential projects. We have not had some of those challenges, so what was perceived as a weakness in 2017 has placed us in a good position in 2023. That being said, we can facilitate some future growth in the class-A office space. We’re well-positioned to deal with ongoing uncertainty as it relates to the capital markets and development opportunities, based on the diversity of our local economy.
Given the amount of land within Fort Worth’s city limits, there are many opportunities to grow – but that growth necessitates significant infrastructure development. Our biggest challenge is just making sure that we can stay on top of those infrastructure needs, not only within our existing development sites but in areas of future expansion. A lot of that need is tied to Fort Worth’s ongoing population growth, which also presents a huge opportunity for us.
What is the strategy to make sure the region has the right workforce to keep pace with all that growth?
Rather than asking whether we have the right workforce today, it would be more prudent to ask whether we are building the workforce of the future now. Part of our work has been partnering with our colleges and universities to help develop those pipelines. The fact that we have another tier-one research university in Texas A&M, which is expanding in the heart of Downtown, is going to be extremely beneficial for us. We work very closely with Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business on developing some of those pipelines to ensure that students graduate with the right skills, want to stay in the area and have the right job opportunities.
The second piece of workforce development is collaborating with our existing businesses to understand what their needs are, and ensuring their future workforce needs are met. There are a number of colleges and universities here that are focused on that, from UTA’s Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center and the UTA Research Institute, to Texas Christian University, Tarrant County College, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Tarleton State University and others – all of which offer some great programs geared towards Fort Worth’s target industries.
