Alex Lepe
Robert Sturns has a full plate these days as Fort Worth’s new economic development director. Sturns, who continues to run the city’s Business Assistance Center in his new role, sat down for a convo with FW Inc.
Water, transportation and education often come up when Fort Worth’s thought leaders are asked what they view as the city’s biggest economic challenges.
Sturns, whose father is the former Dallas/Fort Worth Airport CEO Vernell Sturns, has a few ideas. “Education,” he says. “We have to continue (to improve) as a community.”
Second, Fort Worth sometimes has a hard time holding on to some of its college graduates or recruiting them here, Sturns said. “Millennials look to a cool environment,” Sturns said. “I think we have some of those elements, and we continue to grow those elements, but I don’t know we’re first of mind. If we get them to Fort Worth, nine times out of 10, we’re able to sell them here.”
Third, “the city continues to be challenged by how to encourage and maintain momentum in redevelopment inside the loop,” Sturns said. Perceptions are a problem. And “aging infrastructure makes it more expensive to develop,” Sturns said. “We don’t have large tracts. A lot of it is site readiness. You have to be more aggressive with it.”
David Cooke, Fort Worth’s new city manager, has focused the city’s economic development efforts on recruiting and retaining projects that “really move the needle,” Sturns says. One such project was the recruitment of a Facebook data center. It’s a major financial investment to start with. “The job component is not huge,” Sturns said, “but it helps us as a community become more of a player in the technology space.”
Facebook also has strong wages and benefits. “It’s really a strong piece of the analysis,” Sturns said. Finally, Facebook may help Fort Worth develop small business and entrepreneurial ventures, he said. “Are there smaller companies in that space we can look to attract?” he said. “Can we grow small businesses?”
Fort Worth’s Business Assistance Center, with the Idea Works and TECH Fort Worth incubators in a campus at Interstate 35W and Rosedale Street, has been looking to grow businesses and encourage and nurture startups. The Business Assistance Center by itself sees 1,500-1,700 clients a year, many already in business.
The BAC’s five-year plan is to continue to focus primarily on small and micro enterprises, with an emphasis on women and minority-owned businesses. “As the entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to grow across Fort Worth and Dallas, we will be looking to expand our offerings to address their specific needs,” Sturns says. That will mean more advanced training, B2B networking, improved access to capital programs, and other support, he said.
City and business leaders will be looking for more formal ways to help small companies make the next big steps, he said. “How do we transition small companies to the middle?” he said. “What’s the pipeline into Fort Worth South or Downtown Fort Worth?”