Strength & Growth in Dallas-Fort Worth
Posted October 16th, 2012 | by The Update
With key economic indicators showing sustained growth throughout the Metroplex, the region’s cities have succeeded in attracting new businesses in all sectors in the past year, from business logistics to manufacturing to health and medical.
The data show that the Metroplex excels when it comes to sustained growth in trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; and education and health services. A strengthening consumer sector has driven growth in transportation and trade, while business travel to the Metroplex has given a boost to the hospitality sector.
Mike Rosa, vice president of economic development for the Dallas Regional Chamber, has seen significant growth in the business logistics sector.
Indeed, he said Dallas/Fort Worth is one of the largest business logistics centers in the nation, providing a reliable workforce and infrastructure for manufacturing, distribution and office space. Key announcements and openings in the past year include Kohl’s 1-million-square-foot distribution center in DeSoto; LinkAmerica’s 24,000-square-foot corporate office and training center in Fort Worth and GE Transportation’s 500,000-square-foot locomotive manufacturing facility in Irving. This investment will total at least $96 million.
Rosa also noted major announcements in the other top growth sectors in the Metroplex, which include health and medical, high-skill technology manufacturing and corporate headquarters. In health and medical, Inogen will open a corporate office in Richardson; CCS Medical Inc. has relocated its headquarters to Farmers Branch from Florida and will open a distribution facility in Coppell; Golden Living moved its headquarters to Plano; and Greatbatch Inc. is moving its headquarters to Frisco. In high-skill technology manufacturing, Virtual Computing Environment built a new corporate headquarters in Richardson. Corporate office relocation news includes Copart Inc. moving its headquarters to Farmers Branch; Dallas-based HollyFrontier Corp. expanding its corporate office; and U.S. Concrete moving its headquarters from Houston to Euless.
Those announcements have totaled more than 1,400 new jobs for the Metroplex in the past year alone, and promise more to come. Moreover, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the Metroplex continues to post year-over-year gains in employment and, on the flip side, shows annual decreases in unemployment, putting the area well under the national rate. With that outlook, the region’s residents are likely to see more businesses finding a home in Metroplex cities in the coming year.
What’s next? Rosa said the Dallas Regional Chamber has focused on increasing venture capital investments by 50 percent this year to support growth-minded Metroplex companies from the start-up level to late stage and to foster the region’s innovation economy. Those investments – including traditional venture capital investments, angel funding and other private equity capital investments – would make the Metroplex one of the Top 10 U.S. regions for venture capital investments.
For this story and more, visit bfsirfall2012.com.
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