2023 Winter Issue - 38

Cullum Clark, Ron Kirk, Michael Levy
No End in Sight for Growing Texas Triangle
RALPH BIVINS
The Dallas/Fort Worth metro area is
rising on a powerful growth explosion that will
lift it past Chicago to become the third-largest
metropolitan statistical area in the nation,
experts said during a session at the ULI Fall
Meeting in Dallas.
" We've definitely been experiencing a
boom, " said Cullum Clark, director of the
George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic
Growth Initiative and an adjunct professor of
economics at Southern Methodist University.
The extended growth spurt is not limited
to Dallas/Fort Worth, a North Texas spread
of communities with a combined population
of more than 7.7 million. The Texas Triangle,
made up of Texas's largest cities-Houston,
Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas/Fort Worth-
is poised for significant growth. Already 54
Fortune 500 companies have their headquarters
in the Texas Triangle, Clark said at the
session, titled " The Texas Miracle: How'd We
Get Here and What's Next for DFW? "
The Major Growth Driver of Dallas
Ron Kirk, Dallas mayor from 1995 to 2001,
attributes the city's outstanding growth to one
major transportation project.
" There is one magic bullet: the one big centrifugal
force is DFW, " Kirk said, referring
to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport,
which opened in 1973. It is largest hub for
American Airlines and the third-busiest airport
in the world, according to Airports Council
International.
Kirk, senior of counsel in Gibson, Dunn
& Crutcher's Dallas and Washington, D.C.,
offices, said the far-reaching scope of the
airport and its location in the middle of the
nation make corporate travel efficient and
convenient.
Dallas's track record of corporate relocations
has been impressive: the metro area
landed the headquarters of JCPenney, Exxon
Mobil, Toyota Motors U.S., McKesson, and
CBRE, along with the influx of thousands of
employees from other companies. The lower
36
URBAN LAND
WINTER 2023
With its strong population and
economic growth, Texas has been
a star in homebuilding, with Dallas/
Fort Worth and Houston leading the
nation in single-family housing starts
for many years.
home prices and lighter taxes lure companies
to Dallas and its fast-growing suburbs.
Dallas lacks the features of natural beauty,
such as sandy beaches or mountains frosted
with snow, Kirk admitted, but it is perceived
as a good place to live. " We are a great place
to live and raise your families. "
Plus, there was land available for suburban
expansion that spread to the north in many
cases. " We are the largest real estate play in
the country, " he said.
" More people are moving here, and
that's been great for our business, " said
Michael Levy, chief executive officer of Dallasbased
Crow Holdings, which was founded by
legendary developer Trammell Crow about 75
years ago.
Levy said the Dallas/Fort Worth area has
evolved into a number of growth nodes-
cities or self-sustained submarkets with housing,
offices, retailers, civic management, and
schools. These large-scale communities allow
families to live, work, and play, and move
through the " daily grind " of life without the
excessively long commutes required in some
metro areas, he said.
Shifting Population
The suburban growth detracts from some
of the central city tax base, Kirk explained,
but younger people return to the city's urban
enviornment core seeking the density, and
big city excitement. " We may lose out on
those families, but the younger people don't
want to live 45 minutes out of the city, "
Kirk said.
The past growth and latent potential
of the Dallas market has gained attention
throughout the real estate community. In ULI
and PwC's Emerging Trends in Real Estate®
2023 forecast report, released at the meeting,
Dallas/Fort Worth ranked behind only
Nashville in terms of its overall real estate
prospects. The report also ranks the Dallas/
Fort Worth market sixth in homebuilding
prospects.
With its strong population and economic
growth, Texas has been a star in homebuilding,
with Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston leading
the nation in single-family housing starts
for many years.
According to the RCLCO Real Estate Consulting
firm, the Houston metro area led the
nation in 2021 with 52,195 housing starts, following
by the Dallas/Fort Worth market with
51,681 starts. The Phoenix metro area ranked
a distant third with 36,729 starts last year,
RCLCO reported.
Houston is also expected to surpass Chicago
among metropolitan statistical areas in
the next decade or so, Clark said.
RALPH BIVINS is a freelance writer based in Houston. He is a
prolific blogger and veteran journalist who covered real estate and
economic development as a staffer at the Houston Chronicle and San
Antonio Express-News for two decades.
2023 Winter Issue

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