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<\/p>\nFort Worth had scored big time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A $1.3 billion computer chip plant near Alliance Airport looked to be the biggest economic development coup since 1942 when the city landed what eventually became Lockheed and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, bringing with it jobs, government funding and prosperity.<\/p>\n
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This is part of the Report\u2019s special 1 Million & Counting growth series, which will be published on Mondays into October. The reporting will lead to a growth summit Oct. 23 at the downtown Tarrant County College Trinity River Campus.<\/p>\n
The 1996 deal with Intel Corp. promised jobs requiring technology skills \u2014 with as many as 1,200 workers earning a then-healthy average annual salary of $35,000 \u2014 helping transition Fort Worth out of its energy, defense and ranching roots into the flashy age of computing with bytes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, to use a Cowtown phrase, it was all hat and no cattle as the booming technology industry went bust.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fort Worth leaders may not have seen it clearly then, but the city\u2019s economic sextant had set its true course for the future in 1988. That was when it made a unique and controversial deal to set up a public-private partnership to develop the 27,000-acre mixed-use Alliance project, which includes Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Intel deal made us look north,\u201d said Charlie Powell, president of the Fort Worth market for Ciera Bank, a longtime banker in the area and community leader. \u201cAlliance was already set up, but we hadn\u2019t clearly seen it for what it was. The Intel deal made us really aware of the opportunity we had.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deal\u2019s collapse also made city leaders all too aware of where Fort Worth fell short \u2014 a strong talent pipeline, transportation and water \u2014 and what the city needed when the next Intel deal came along.<\/p>\n
It was clear that the \u201cto-do\u201d list was long, Powell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things Intel wanted was an educated workforce,\u201d he said. \u201cIt showed us what we needed to be doing, and now I think everybody\u2019s focused on workforce.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the city reached the 1 million residents threshold<\/a>, it was also \u2014 through the first three quarters of fiscal year 2025 \u2014 announcing project commitments totaling more than $6.2 billion in new capital investment and more than 4,000 new and retained jobs. It was Fort Worth\u2019s strongest year in more than a decade, some nine years after an Economic Development Strategic Plan<\/a> report found the city lacked a comprehensive, aggressive economic development program.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the years since that report, the city:\u00a0<\/p>\n Recent economic development wins, such as the Wistron supercomputing manufacturing plant and the MP Materials magnet manufacturer, indicate Fort Worth has made up ground since the Intel deal collapsed, said former Mayor Mike Moncrief.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get to be a city with a million people by accident,\u201d Moncrief said.<\/p>\n Building a talent pipeline<\/p>\n Workforce was key nearly 30 years ago and is even more important now, said Mike Berry, president of Hillwood, the real estate company in charge of developing Alliance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe No. 1 question from companies looking to locate here is labor,\u201d he said. \u201cNo. 2 is labor, and No. 3 is labor.\u201d<\/p>\n Incentives are still important, Berry said, and some deals remain incentive driven, but workforce and talent remain key.\u00a0<\/p>\n Partnerships with Tarrant County College and other schools have been key to landing a broad array of industries at Alliance \u2014 from aviation to technology firms to the film industry.<\/p>\n For example, producer Taylor Sheridan\u2019s SGS Studios, which is building a 450,000-square-foot film and television production campus in the Alliance area, is already working with TCC on related training programs, Berry said. The community college already offers courses related to aviation, transportation and software technology out of a training center in Alliance<\/a>.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Texas A&M\u2019s growing downtown campus, the expansion of Tarleton State, UT Arlington\u2019s push into west Fort Worth and TCU\u2019s growth are other key factors in preparing the area for future economic development, Powell said.<\/p>\n Texas A&M-Fort Worth, for example, aims to partner with industries on workforce, innovation and research<\/a>. TCU\u2019s Burnett School of Medicine is poised to create an estimated 31,200 jobs and have an annual economic impact of $4 billion by 2030<\/a> as well as provide more doctors for the growing city.\u00a0<\/p>\n But there are other areas where Fort Worth is working to catch up, Powell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTransportation \u2014 getting people from point A to point B \u2014 was a problem then, in 1996, and it\u2019s still a problem now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re working on it, but it doesn\u2019t get any easier.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some hope could be on the horizon. Tarrant County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare said during his State of the County address that the Texas Department of Transportation plans to unveil<\/a> a master plan for the Fort Worth area that could spur economic development.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to eliminating gridlock, making access easier for our people, it will also be a huge, huge boon for economic development,\u201d he said, speaking at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce event on Aug. 21. \u201cYou\u2019re going to start seeing that happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Moncrief cited the poor performance of the city\u2019s school district, which could soon see a state takeover because of failing academic accountability standards as another area where Fort Worth could use improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Worth Top 5 Employment by Industry\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Manufacturing 14.2%<\/strong><\/p>\n Real Estate, rent\/lease 13.3%<\/strong><\/p>\n Professional Services 11.1%<\/strong><\/p>\n Health Care 7.9%<\/strong><\/p>\n Retail Trade 7.5%<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: City of Fort Worth Economic Development Department<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWith the state of Texas staring down at Fort Worth ISD and considering putting the district under receivership, this is not attractive to new businesses considering Fort Worth to be their new home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kelly Decker, a local attorney with three students in Fort Worth ISD schools, believes business leaders will use the state takeover<\/a> as a way to tell prospective companies that \u201cat least we\u2019re doing something about the public schools.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the way they\u2019ll spin it, I think,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n From crash to takeoff\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The roots of Fort Worth\u2019s new economic fortunes grew from the rubble of the late 1980s real estate market bust.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was a cratering of Texas-sized proportions, but it made land cheap to buy \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly what Ross Perot Jr. did. The Dallas businessman eventually amassed 27,000 acres of land in far north Fort Worth, much of it outside of city limits at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 1989, the city partnered with Perot\u2019s Hillwood Development Co. and the Federal Aviation Administration to open the world\u2019s first industrial airport, now known as Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n The AllianceTexas development grew around the airport to include BNSF Railway\u2019s Alliance Intermodal Facility, a FedEx hub and Amazon Air\u2019s regional hub among its 500-plus companies that call the area home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like many major developments in the city\u2019s history \u2014 from the railroads coming to town to the \u201cbomber plant\u201d to the Alliance project \u2014 it was a deal built on the sometimes uneasy marriage of politics, business, money and Cowtown chutzpah that has long-fueled Fort Worth\u2019s economic success.\u00a0<\/p>\n That potent combination has seen AllianceTexas generate $10.2 billion in regional economic impact as of 2024 and make the area home to about 70,000 workers, according to Hillwood\u2019s latest economic impact report<\/a> from March.<\/p>\n While the Alliance development continues to grow \u2014 more than one-third of its acreage is still available for expansion \u2014 the city is looking west to Walsh and Veale Ranch for more growth and other big projects.<\/p>\n Unlike the Alliance development, Walsh, at 7,200 acres, and Veale Ranch, at 5,200 acres, do not have one developer in control of most of the acreage.\u00a0<\/p>\n The area is seen as a potential megasite for a large corporate relocation.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was under consideration <\/a>for the Rivian electric vehicle plant in 2021. That project went to an area outside of Atlanta. Water supply issues were one factor in the reason for Rivian deciding against Fort Worth, city leaders said at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Water, water isn\u2019t everywhere<\/p>\n As Fort Worth grew, the city opened a new water treatment plant at Eagle Mountain Lake. But local water sources aren\u2019t enough to keep up with growth<\/a>, officials said.<\/p>\n The nonprofit Texas 2036 estimates<\/a> that the state risks losing about 785,000 jobs and about $165 billion in gross domestic product by the end of 2050 because of water scarcity.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas needs to do more. We need the Marvin Nichols Reservoir<\/a>,\u201d said Berry, referring to the controversial northeast Texas water project Tarrant County officials hope could eventually supply water to millions of residents<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas lawmakers passed a measure going before voters in November aimed at addressing long-term water needs with about $20 billion for projects<\/a> over the next two decades. A newly created Texas Water Fund Advisory Committee would oversee the funds and is tasked with projecting aquifers and local control over surface water rights.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have any place to grow if your water demands exceed your ability to meet those demands,\u201d Moncrief said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Growth is here, prosperity lags behind for some sectors<\/p>\n That western edge of Fort Worth, much of it in Parker County, will be important in attracting new companies to the city, said Fort Worth City Council member Michael Crain, who represents the area in District 3. While transit projects are ongoing in the area, he has been pushing for more.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe growth is not just coming. It\u2019s here,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n One key to the city\u2019s economic development fortunes has been an overhaul of its economic development structure. Key to that was the formation of the Economic Development Partnership in 2023 carved out of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce to be a separate entity with a focus on recruiting business to the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n That was a key change, said Berry, and was the start of the city, the development community and the Economic Development Partnership working together to bring new projects to the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe community is really starting to work more in sync than we were before,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about customer service, and it\u2019s all about giving a company that\u2019s considering Fort Worth a seamless experience when they come here. And I think that\u2019s the thing that has changed that I\u2019ve seen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Worth leaders had been working to improve economic development efforts since 2017, when a report from consulting firm TIP Strategies<\/a> cited several shortcomings in the city\u2019s economic development efforts. An updated report<\/a> in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the areas north and west of Fort Worth represent the growth that comes from so-called \u201cgreenfield\u201d developments where there are large open swaths of land available, the city also has plenty of room to develop and redevelop closer to its core, such as in the east and southeast.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt will happen,\u201d said Powell, who chaired the JPS Health Network board, for several years. \u201cYou\u2019re starting to see it, but it will happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Powell pointed to the Rosedale Renaissance<\/a>, a $6.7 million project to revitalize the Texas Wesleyan University campus and the nearby Polytechnic neighborhood, as one example.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou look at how that has changed and continues to change things on the east side of Rosedale,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The key to that infill development is to get the neighborhoods on board, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut when you\u2019ve got as much land on the east side, that has the ingress and egress to all the freeways and connections to Fort Worth, I see it developing. I don\u2019t think you can stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n Businesses in the area seem to struggle even with signs of prosperity nearby, said Rachel Durant, co-owner of Forget Me Not Pictures, which leases space in the Near Southside area. She and her husband founded a nonprofit organization, Brave\/R Together, that also has a business academy to support startups and entrepreneurs in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to incorporate and make connections throughout the city and I don\u2019t know if we could have done that on our own,\u201d she said. \u201cThat support was key.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n New data have started to back up Fort Worth\u2019s claims of economic success over the past few years. A new study <\/a>from real estate listing service CoworkingCafe ranks Fort Worth fifth best for economic growth among large American cities. The study gives the city particularly strong marks in education and international trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, at only 2 years old, was earlier this year chosen by Site Selection Magazine as the recipient of the 2025 Mac Conway Award for Excellence in Economic Development, the most prestigious award given to economic development organizations. The Fort Worth partnership is one of 20 economic development organizations across the country to win the award.<\/p>\n Moncrief says the city retains its small-town feel despite the growth. Keeping that feel, along with the historical aspects of the city are key to maintaining Fort Worth\u2019s unique place among large cities, he said. \u201cThat makes us attractive to companies wanting to do business here,\u201d Moncrief said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take care of the small things, too,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the mayors I\u2019ve known have done that, and I did too. That sets us apart. We take care of the small things and the big things too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n\n
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Different storefronts line a section of retail space at Alliance in Fort Worth on Sept. 4, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat education, training, has become a huge part of what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Berry said.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CAS_topping_out-8-scaled.jpg\")
A steel beam is lifted by crane April 18, 2023, at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. (File photo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
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