Economic Development Report
By Bob O'Neal, Economic Development Director
City of Grand Prairie
Grand Prairie is holding its own and doing better than most cities despite a deep national recession that included Texas and the DFW area. In 2009, the City recorded three of the largest industrial leases in the DFW area. Farley's and Sathers Candy Co. in January signed a lease for 1 million square feet at Grand Lakes industrial park in northeast Grand Prairie, seen as possibly the largest lease in the United States. In June, another big lease was signed in Grand Prairie. Solo Cup leased the SH 161 Distribution Center at Pioneer Parkway, 603,354 square feet. Discount Tire's plans to expand its distribution operation to 305,000 square feet at the new Trinity Overlook at Trinity and Roy Orr boulevards were announced in late summer. Other recent recently completed or under construction developments include:
· two new 4,000-square-foot QuikTrip stores, one at S. Carrier and Crossland and the other at Robinson and SH 303
· IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) credit union and offices, totaling 20,000 square feet, at Tarrant Road and east of 7th Street
· a new 29,000-square-foot medical offices facility on N. Highway 360, north of Post and Paddock.
· a new La Quinta Hotel, 47,000 square feet (74 rooms), on I-20 at Matthew.
· Jefferson Retail Center, 24,000 square feet at Jefferson and east of Carrier Pkwy.
· 636,000 square feet of industrial space by Crow Holdings in the Grand Lakes Industrial Park, I-30 and east of MacArthur.
Sales tax collections were down 3.7% from the previous fiscal year ending September 2009. Most of the decline came from a slowdown in construction supply sales and major consumer discretionary goods. Future retail development is currently on hold as the Prime Retail Outlet is holding out for a clear turnaround in the economy, looking for two consecutive quarters of positive economic news before beginning construction of the 500,000-square-foot outlet mall for I-20 and Great Southwest.
Public projects advanced in 2009. The city's new 149,000-square-foot Public Safety Headquarters and a new 59,000-square-foot adult activity center, called the Summit, at the 172-acre Central Park at SH 161 and Arkansas are due completion in spring 2010. Another city project, Market Square, a farmers market and general event place at Main and 2nd streets near the Uptown, opened in late October.
There are some signs of improvement coming, lets all hope for a better outlook in the months ahead.
