Though the COVID-19 pandemic has caused uncertainty for companies about the weeks and months ahead, members of Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) see future growth and positivity on the economic horizon for North Texas.
Recently, the chamber hosted its first virtual Tomorrow Fund Investors meeting, convening a panel of consultants in corporate location activity to discuss how the region is poised to be impacted and the future ramifications of the virus. And while the future remains uncertain and there are struggles ahead, the DRC largely saw DFW’s pre-pandemic momentum as the foundation to the region’s stability.
“The best organized communities will return the quickest, and that’s what this is going to be about,” Mike Mullis, president and CEO at J.M. Mullis, said at the meeting. “I see the DFW metroplex as one of those probably eight to 10 opportunities that is going to continue to grow, and prosper, and realign. [There’s] going to be new projects coming in or existing projects expanding.”
Mullis said recently a number of corporations looking at relocating to the region have had to delay moves and projects. Last month, Uber Technologies put on hold hirings for its new Dallas offices, which are expected to house nearly 3,000 employees, and paused construction on one of its leased offices. However, Mullis said he expects similar projects to continue as the region emerges from the pandemic.
The panel attributed North Texas’ positive outlook to the amount of new jobs being created in the region prior to the pandemic, noting that demand is still there. In 2019, DFW was the top market in the country for office job growth, according to CBRE. In addition, it notes existing infrastructure, such as the Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, where Uber, Bell and Amazon have all leased space to test aircraft services, as well as the business-friendly environment in the state, which the panel doesn’t expect to change, will be factors in helping stabilize DFW.
One of the panel members, Larry Gigerich, executive managing director at Ginovus, said the virus will likely have an impact on economic incentives to companies relocating here from local cities and the state due to unemployment and emergency spending using up existing funds. For example, Dallas’ economic incentive package in its bid to lure Amazon’s HQ2 totaled nearly $1.2 billion.
“COVID-19 is not going to change the underlying fundamentals that have led to the success of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the state of Texas as a whole,” Gigerich said at the meeting. “I think [North Texas is] better positioned than a lot of places around the country, and certainly with the peers you compete with on a day-to-day basis.”
Though the DRC’s panelists saw a positive outlook, they also said the COVID-19 pandemic could have lasting impacts on the way many company’s do business. Mullis said that many might look to more direct-to-consumer models. Gigerich noted that some companies may reconsider moving to dense urban centers or look to have employees spread across smaller offices, rather than one consolidated location. Panelists also expect remote work to become more widely used by many businesses.
Overall, the panelists said that technology will play a large role in companies’ futures, as remote work increases, companies look to reshore where possible and cut costs with automation, AI and ML technologies. They also agreed that the length of the current crisis will ultimately affect economic trends and impacts on businesses in the future.
“We are still pretty early in this, but I do think there are a couple of things that will be a bit more scrutinized as companies look at future locations for operations,” Gigerich.
