ARLINGTON, Texas — The owners of the company E-Space are keeping their fingers crossed that Arlington councilmembers will approve a business agreement.
That agreement could give the green light on starting the first phase of construction just west of the Arlington Municipal Airport and bring hundreds of new jobs.
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross and other council members scheduled an executive session meeting to discuss a public private venture that would open doors for E-Space to locate its North America headquarters to Arlington. It's just one of many efforts for Ross to grow Arlington one new company at a time.
"If you were to take Arlington and put us out somewhere else, we'd be the metropolitan hub," Ross said.
Ross refuses to let being in between Dallas and Fort Worth get in the way of growing the city. Councilmembers are expected to approve Arlington's biggest public-private business deal ever with E-Space during their April 23 meeting.
"We're talking about a company moving their North American headquarters here to Arlington," Ross said. "Initially, probably around 400 jobs."
Those jobs pay about $95,000 a year and E-Space jobs could grow to about 3,000 in 10 years. The Arlington Economic Development Corporation would give the company $50 million in sales tax proceeds to start construction at the Arlington Municipal Airport.
The council is also in talks with Christian media company GAC Media and Spanish maintenance firm Acciona to lure their headquarters to Arlington too. Those items are on the same agenda.
Luring three different company headquarters comes during other big Arlington projects like the National Medal of Honor Museum and major renovations on Choctaw Stadium. Starbucks has already opened in Choctaw and a popular restaurant is under construction on the same side of the stadium across from the new Loew's Arlington Hotel and Convention Center which opened earlier this year.
But as Arlington closes its biggest public-private venture ever with E-Space, the city is far from growing. Ross said the city has other big projects in the works as well.
Ross attributes the city's economic development success to business relationships. Ross' skillset includes landing deals with both immediate and long-term benefits. There are other topics that get discussed when making deals like parking and public safety.
"Public safety is critically important. I would argue right now, we've never been on better footing with our police and firefighters. We are constantly in a hiring process right now, beefing up our staff," said Ross, "Violent crime has really taken a sharp decrease. We're heading in the right direction. Our police department is second to none. Our violent crime is down 27%. That's incredible for a city our size."