City manager: Fort Worth’s economic growth continues to look strong

by Bob Francis, Fort Worth Report
December 28, 2025

Fort Worth had a banner fiscal year in economic development in 2025 with $6.7 billion in new capital investment and more than 6,900 in new and retained jobs, the strongest year in more than a decade, the city manager said. 

Currently, 98 projects are in the development pipeline, with 44 of those company expansions and 54 focused on new community and real estate projects, according to a recent report presented to city council. 

Can the city maintain that pace? 

New City Manager Jay Chapa discussed Fort Worth’s economic development strength and its challenges on Dec. 16 at River Crest County Club at an event sponsored by the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors and the Society of Commercial Realtors. 

Chapa cited a new Bell plant, the Wistron AI supercomputing project and the Evans-Rosedale urban village plans as three examples of key deals moving forward over the past year. 

Last winter, defense contractor Bell, a Textron subsidiary, announced it was retrofitting and expanding an existing Alliance plant to house manufacturing operations for the company’s new assault helicopter.

Bell will build the U.S. Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft set — to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk as the U.S. Army’s long-range assault aircraft — at the new site, which is expected to create 520 full-time jobs with an average annual salary of $85,000 by the end of 2039.

It was the first project in Texas to use the state’s new Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation program, known colloquially as JETI. The state kicked in a Texas Enterprise Fund grant of $2.7 million, while the Fort Worth City Council approved more than $47 million in incentives. 

At the time, military officials said the contract was worth $1.3 billion but could end up being worth about $70 billion over the long term.

“That’s a major, major project for Fort Worth,” Chapa said. “They’ve been around here for a long time, and those big defense projects with millions of dollars tied to them have lasted for generations in Fort Worth.” 

Bell has had its headquarters and a large manufacturing operation in Fort Worth since 1951. 

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg of the contract as we go forward,” he said. “That project will continue, and once, when you think about it, typically, when the federal government invests in that level like that, and they go with it for a really long time.” 

Like many other areas of Texas, Fort Worth also saw plenty of data center development in 2025, but one related project stood out, Chapa said. 

Wistron, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of components used in NVIDIA computers, announced in August it will build two AI supercomputer manufacturing facilities in the AllianceTexas development.

That’s a $761 million investment set to create more than 800 jobs, officials have said. 

“Everybody wants to capitalize on (data centers), and one of the projects that we were able to bring to town is going to start off small, but it has a potential to grow,” Chapa said. 

“They’re going to start off with about 600 employees,” he said. “But once that takes off, that could be a generator of employment for a long time.” 

Chapa said that the finalization of the Evans-Rosedale project in 2025 was a long time coming. The urban village will have a mix of housing and retail in the Historic Southside. Officials are working to attract businesses to the project, including a grocer or market to sell healthy food. 

“You and I worked on that for 25 years, trying to get things going there,” Chapa said to Fernando Costa, the former assistant city manager for the city who recently retired. Costa interviewed Chapa for the event.  

“We hope to have all that signed, sealed and delivered next month so they can actually move forward the final financing, final engineering design and be able to break ground in the coming year,” said Chapa.  

In October, Royal Capital officials said they are investing $63 million in the planned Evans-Rosedale urban village under a revised financial package that decreases city costs.

City officials estimate the project — expected to break ground by late 2026 — will bring in more revenue over 15 years than initially expected. 

In November, Fort Worth was ranked No. 1 in a survey of building permitting among 500 cities. 

The city was able to turn around a building permit in a week or less 97.7% of the time, according to the Red Tape Index 500 from AI company  Labrynth. Chapa said city staff worked hard over the last 10 to 12 years with the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth and other groups to improve the process. He noted, however, that the survey was just about building permits, not the whole process. 

“We still have work to do,” he said. 

Bond package in 2026 

City council and staff recently completed a series of public meetings about the next bond program expected to go before voters in May. 

Six propositions are expected to be on the ballot and total about $840 million, the largest bond in the city’s history. 

Among the proposals are $5 million for affordable single-family housing, which would be used to acquire vacant or blighted properties ($1 million) and pay for  public infrastructure ($4 million). The funds will leverage contributions from the development community.  

Other Texas cities have had an affordable housing bond proposal, but this is the first for Fort Worth, Chapa said. Meanwhile, city officials plan to work with the Community Land Trust, Trinity Habitat for Humanity and other groups to bring more single family housing, whether for rent or for purchase, he said. 

The bond package would not raise the property tax rate in the city if approved. However, Chapa explained that state law requires all bond language — regardless of the impact to the rate — to begin with the words, “This is a tax increase.” 

“But it can all be done without changing your tax rate,” he said. 

Big development projects 

The long-awaited Panther Island dredging project is expected to begin next year, either by summer or fall, Chapa said. 

“I’ve said all along that if we could ever — this is tongue-in-cheek — that if we could ever get started digging the ditch, the actual channel, then things will start moving,” he said. 

Chapa said that there has never been a federal project that began like this and wasn’t finished. 

“The good news is that the project is being (put out for bid) as we speak by the Corps of Engineers,” he said. 

The recent government shutdown delayed the process or the project might have already started, he said. 

Once dirt begins moving, Chapa expects the commercial real estate  community to respond with more ideas about how to develop the 300 to 500 acres of land available. 

“We’re going to start seeing more activity here this next year, which is good,” he said. 

Nearby Panther Island in the Northside, more older homes and buildings are being refurbished while keeping the neighborhood’s historic Hispanic culture, Chapa said. The area along North Main is part of Fort Worth’s Main Street program.

“What the group doesn’t want is to change that completely and become like the Stockyards, right?,” he said. “It’s got to have its own, its own perspective, its own identity as we go forward.” 

The Stockyards itself is continuing to pay dividends, Chapa added. It is a good example of why the city chooses to give incentives to certain projects. 

The Stockyards Heritage Development Co. — a partnership between Majestic Realty and The Hickman Co. — is making such a significant investment in the area that it made sense for the city to make the investments it did in the redevelopment of the Mule Barns and the Hotel Drover, Chapa said. 

Before the Stockyards underwent redevelopment, hotel rooms were around $200 a night in that area, Chapa said. 

“Now, sometimes they are going for $2,000 a night for hotel rooms. It’s insane right?” he said. “Not all of us can afford it, but some do, and we’re already benefitting from that.” 

While tourism in the Stockyards has increased since the first phase of the redevelopment began, Chapa said to reporters after the meeting he is concerned about the project’s next phase.

Majestic, one of the partners in the redevelopment, had changes in leadership, both locally and at headquarters. Earlier in 2025, longtime local Majestic leader Craig Cavileer was forced out by the company.  

In 2024, the city passed a plan to support the second — and more extensive — phase of redevelopment for the area. But Chapa said progress has slowed since the company’s leadership changes. 

He said he has sent a letter to the California-based firm asking for clarification on what their plans are moving forward. 

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. 

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.

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2025/12/28/city-manager-fort-worths-economic-growth-continues-to-look-strong/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>

<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=334238&amp;ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2025/12/28/city-manager-fort-worths-economic-growth-continues-to-look-strong/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>