City of Grand Prairie, TX – Target Industry Analysis
Challenge
Grand Prairie, Texas, is well known within the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area for its exceptional entertainment options, anchored by EPIC Central, a 172-acre adventure park featuring indoor and outdoor attractions that draws millions of visitors to the community annually. The city’s central location in the metro area provides easy access to interstates and to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Its available real estate and relative housing affordability help position the community for company relocations. However, the city faces challenges to business expansion, including aging industrial areas, almost fully built-out retail options, and floodplain constraints. Furthermore, Grand Prairie’s strong business climate and economic advantages are not well publicized outside the local area.
Response
As part of its economic development strategic planning process, the City of Grand Prairie engaged TIP Strategies to develop a target industry analysis that would identify high-value, tradable sectors, while strengthening supply chain resilience and creating career growth opportunities for residents. TIP’s strategic growth area analysis used a mix of traditional industry analysis and a review of job postings to identify employers’ most sought-after occupations and specialized skills in real-time. Based on the analysis, which considered factors including existing business clusters in Grand Prairie and the Dallas-Fort Worth region, employment growth trends, wage levels, and supply chain recruitment opportunities, the following five targets were identified: (1) aerospace and aviation; (2) automotive manufacturing; (3) business services; (4) retail and entertainment; and (5) food processing and manufacturing. For each target, TIP provided a summary of its regional importance, along with specific recommendations for supporting and expanding the sector in the community. The final deliverable also made broad recommendations for strengthening local business development efforts, suggested key performance indicators, and outlined potential analytical steps for subsequent phases of the planning process.