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It’s official: Meow Wolf (a.k.a. Project Black Corinth in confidential circles here in the Economic Development office) is coming to Grapevine. An immersive art experience with a dedicated following, Meow Wolf is famous for its explosive neon color palette and massive, interactive installations. No two exhibits are alike, from th...

Looking at the City of Grapevine today, it’s difficult to picture its sprawling parks, first-to-market attractions, and Historic Main Street as an undeveloped community. But half a century ago, most of the City consisted of suburban housing and unbroken lengths of Texas prairie or farmland. And, of course, a human-mad...

Between an official groundbreaking for Chicken N Pickle and a new vision and ownership for Grapevine's Foundry, plenty of exciting developments didn't land on the official Certificate of Occupancy list for the past month. But your Economic Development Department is keeping you in the loop, regardless. Here's a look at what'...

The Secret Behind Grapevine’s Success
Apr 29 2022With the new year, Grapevine Economic Development launched a new podcast: Growing Grapevine. The podcast works in tandem with the newsletter to clarify policies and practices, turn unsung heroes into recognizable faces, and celebrate the things that make Grapevine, Texas, unique. Grapevine has no shortage of innovators, history, and first-to-marke...

AI and Robotics in the Workplace
Apr 19 2022With COVID-19 changing the reality of the world’s population, it has undoubtedly affected the way businesses operate. Area Development recently discussed the use of robotics and other automation technologies in response to these changes with Carolina Weidler, leader of Hendy’s Science and Technology Practice Group.
Area Development: How specialized or divers...

A construction site can be a hazardous place; from slips and falls to material exposure, human workers undertake a certain amount of risk. It is the responsibility of construction site managers to take every precaution available to protect their workers. With the advent of new technologies such as robots, drones...

Hybrid and remote work has become a mainstay since 2020. While there is a desire to be back in the office, there’s also a desire to work from home on an ad-hoc basis. Despite negative perceptions of remote work, employees generally work just as effectively at home as they d...

5 Steps to Creatively Solving Business Problems
Apr 16 2022Being creative in a business environment comes easy for some, but for most of us, it is challenging to come up with innovative and unique solutions to our most pressing problems.
It's typically easy to see why a problem occurred or even suggest what everyone else should do to solve th...

Keep Grapevine Beautiful will receive $250,000 in landscaping funds as one of the 10 winners of the 2022 Governor’s Community Achievement Awards.
The other winning communities are Allen, Irving, Rowlett, Salado, Richwood, Lucas, Woodway, Katy and Canyon Lake. The cities will share $2 million in landscape funding from the Texas Departmen...

Entrepreneurship is a tough road that can travel through some dark places. After some initial success, many entrepreneurs find themselves stuck and confused, in a place where they question who they are, where their business is going or when they’ll get there. Some are surrounded by self-imposed walls they’ve buil...

North Texas -- and Grapevine -- continue to be a hotbed for business openings and relocations even as the nation recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Tarrant County saw 8% more physical businesses open last year than in 2019, and we've had plenty of exciting new businesses to bra...

f Texas were a country — and many of us feel like it already is — it would rank fourth in the world for crude oil production, behind the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Overall, Texas reigns as the No. 1 state for energy production, with the energy sector value...

Entrepreneurs Are Happier And Healthier Than Employees According To University Research Studies
Apr 1 2022Chances are, you will work for a living to build a career and potentially gain some level of happiness in the process. Oh, and you obviously would like to be and remain healthy. One of the issues gaining a lot of national attention today is people’s mental health. That's grea...

Few cities (or citizens, for that matter) are as proud of their history as ours. Established by treaty in 1844, the City of Grapevine is the oldest settlement in Tarrant County. For much of the 20th century, the town thrived because of its location along highways and railroad tracks tha...

Spring is in the air, bringing visitors to the extensive and varied Grapevine, Texas, retail scene. All of those added footsteps bring added tax revenue during the “spring break” season coming to a close at the end of March.
Julia Sizemore, President, Historic Downtown Grapevine Association, said the increase in Downtow...

Profile of the Consultants Survey Respondents
At least 80 percent of those responding to our 17th annual Consultants Survey work with manufacturers of durable goods, with some of these consultants also working with other manufacturers, and three quarters are working on distribution/logistics projects. Nearly half represent clients in data processing/computer-related sector...

When we last took stock of Area Development’s Top States for Doing Business, it was a bit hard to gauge what “doing business” was even supposed to look like. In 2020, the country was riding one wave of COVID-19 after another, mixing times of turmoil and concern with ripples o...

Covid-19 has resulted in wild gyrations in the supply chain with the hard-hit semiconductor industry having a major impact on U.S. auto manufacturing. From its beginning, Covid-19 resulted in auto plants closing around the country while sales of computers and other consumer products skyrocketed. When automakers resumed production, they foun...

An Evolving Incentives Environment
Mar 17 2022For nearly two years, the predominant COVID-19 driven incentive compliance issue looming over companies has been the difficulty to achieve and report on headcount performance as part of economic development incentive agreements.
The evolving workplace landscape precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic adds another wrinkle to this process. With the trend towar...

The 2021 Governor’s Cups
Mar 16 2022Site Selection’s 2021 winners illustrate exactly why a per capita Governor’s Cup was added to this annual facilities race with the 2013 Governors’ Cups. The original Cup always recognized the state with the most qualified capital investment projects the previous calendar year. For eight years now, Site Selection has als...

The digitizing of the economy is pervasive, whether you’re performing quality control in an automated manufacturing plant; undergoing a medical procedure; operating a container crane at a backed-up West Coast port; launching fabrication of a 3D-printed prototype; or putting the finishing touches on a breakthrough architectural design.
Could using our ow...

How States Lure the Big Fish
Mar 14 2022Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Laura Kelly of Kansas are covered extensively in this issue as the winners of the 2021 Governors’ Cups — the former for total qualified capital investment projects last year and the latter for total per capita projects. The governors of the other ranking state...

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas started off strong in the first month of 2022 with gains of 29,000 total non-agricultural jobs in the first month of 2022, exceeding the previous record employment level set in December 2021 by reaching more than 13 million jobs, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday.
Texas ha...