Texas Market Reports

By Eric Burtt, executive vice president, partner development, Blue Stream Fiber In Texas, we pride ourselves on doing everything big. From booming cities to iconic skylines, the state is a magnet for growth and innovation. But when it comes to one of the most essential modern residential amenities — high-speed internet — multifamily properties aren’t always living up to the Texas standard. Connectivity has shifted from being a “nice-to-have” feature to a core utility in today’s real estate market. Just like water and electricity, residents expect fast, reliable internet to be ready from the moment they move in. For property owners and developers, the expectation is no longer just a service decision; it’s a marketing and investment decision. Why Connectivity Matters More Than Ever Internet use is not coming to a halt anytime soon. According to the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, in 2023, 13 million more people  were online compared to just two years earlier. Today’s households download nearly 700 gigabytes (GBs) of data each month, and usage is still climbing. High-speed connectivity isn’t just about meeting tenant expectations. It’s also essential for protecting and growing property value. For owners and investors, properties with robust fiber connectivity lease faster, …

By Jane Witowich, business operations manager, Day One Experts In Collin County, two fast-growing Texas cities are charting a new path for economic development that prioritizes efficiency, adaptability and smart decision-making over traditional staffing models. Fairview and Melissa, a pair of suburban communities facing explosive population growth and mounting development pressure, have adopted a fractional approach to economic development. Instead of creating or adopting full-time, in-house departments, both cities have strategically partnered with outside expertise to stay visible in national site selection circles, foster new investment and keep costs in check. That decision, born out of necessity, is quickly proving to be a blueprint for others. A Model Rooted in Strategy The challenges faced by these teams in Fairview and Melissa are familiar to city leaders across Texas: developer interest is growing, expectations from residents are rising and yet budgets remain constrained. Hiring full-time economic development staff, building marketing infrastructure and funding national outreach campaigns — these initiatives often stretch beyond what smaller cities can reasonably afford. Rather than let those constraints define them, Fairview and Melissa made the deliberate choice to adopt a fractional model. Through partnerships with experienced consultants such as Day One Experts, led by veteran economic …

By Taylor Williams In 2016, the Dallas Cowboys went 13-3, finished in first place in the NFC and had five players earn All-Pro selections — arguably the team’s best season-long performance since its heyday in the 1990s.  That’s about all the reminiscing that this writer, who hails from Atlanta, cares to do on the 2016 NFL season. But is it purely coincidental that one of the Cowboys’ most dominant regular-season campaigns in the past three decades coincided with the opening of The Star, the team’s world headquarters and practice facility in Frisco? Perhaps. But for the North Texas region as a whole, the planting of the Cowboys flag outside of city limits marked a sort of coming-out party, a bold declaration that the areas north of the metroplex were primed for major job and population growth, as well as corresponding real estate development.  “When Frisco secured the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters and The Star District in 2016, it seems to have led to a waterfall of momentum,” says Gloria Salinas, senior vice president and chief growth officer of the Frisco Economic Development Corp. “During that time, Frisco demonstrated an ability to align civic leadership with business priorities, accelerating timelines for that …