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  • 🏠D.R. Horton makes purchase; Cowboy boot Crocs; GM strike update

🏠D.R. Horton makes purchase; Cowboy boot Crocs; GM strike update

+More bite-size business news to keep you informed and make you smarter

October 09, 2023

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đź“ŁNEWS OF THE DAY:

Walton Global has sold 151 acres of land in southwest Fort Worth to D.R. Horton for a residential development called Longhorn Estates. Expected development is 1,000 homes in four phases of the area around West Cleburne Crowley Road and South Hulen Street. DRH division president Todd Horton said the first homes would be ready in late 2024.

Say it isn’t so. We now have cowboy boot Crocs. The boots will come with a "spin-able spur charm on the backstrap." You can be among the first to own them for just $120.

According to a state filing, a Cambria Hotel is coming to Euless at 751 E. Airport Freeway. The $7-million, 55,200-square-foot project is slated to break ground in November with a one year estimated completion date.

The future of downtown Fort Worth is explored with Plan 2033, the latest in a series of strategic initiatives focused on revitalizing the city's core. City and County government staff, Trinity Metro staff, and DFWI staff collaborated to prepare the plan and recommendations, which will be presented to the city council on Tuesday. Download the draft here.

The education website Niche.com has released its 2024 ranking of Private High Schools in D-FW. Rankings are based on the quality of colleges that students consider, student-teacher ratio, private school ratings, and more. The schools from Tarrant County that made the Top 25:

  • #7, Trinity Valley (Fort Worth)

  • #9, Fort Worth Country Day (Fort Worth)

  • #11, The Oakridge School (Arlington)

  • #12, E. A. Young Academy (Roanoke)

  • #14, All Saints’ Episcopal (Fort Worth)

  • #19, The Clariden School (Southlake)

  • #23, Northstar School (Arlington)

Five businesses were honored last week by the Fort Worth Chamber at the 2023 Small Business of the Year awards, sponsored by Bank of Texas. This annual award recognizes and honors small businesses that have demonstrated exemplary “best practices” of entrepreneurship. The categories and winners were:

  • Emerging businesses: Divine Intervention

  • 1-20 employees: 6th Avenue Storytelling

  • 21 - 50 employees: Varghese Summersett

  • 51 - 100 employees (dual winners): Ampersand Coffee and Auticon USA

The Board of Trustees for Tarrant County College approved a tuition increase effective in spring 2024. In-county resident tuition will increase by $5 to $69 per credit hour. Out-of-county Texas resident tuition will increase from $126 to $131. Tuition for out-of-state residents and international students will be $310. This is the first tuition increase since the 2018-2019 academic year.

The United Auto Workers will give GM, Ford and Stellantis a break from new walkouts this week. The union held off on expanding its strike of GM in Arlington after it reached a deal to include workers at a new battery joint venture in a new labor contract. The move will pressure Ford and Stellantis to follow suit and secure labor’s role in the transition to electric vehicles. Additionally:

  • According to GM, the first two weeks of the strike cost it $200 million.

  • GM covered itself for a prolonged strike by securing a new $6 billion line of credit

Daily digit: 22% - the portion of spending Americans aged 65 and up accounted for last year, the highest share since records began in 1972 and up from 15% in 2010.

Cook Children’s has opened the John and Tracy Sellers Sports Complex in Aledo. The new complex is an expansion to Cook Children’s Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Walsh Ranch. The outdoor complex includes a 30-yard football field, quarter-mile track, pitching mound and agility training area for young athletes to train and come back from injury.

Here are the numbers on the Tarrant County housing market for the month of August compared to prior year, from the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors:

  • Median price: $351,561, down 3.7%

  • Active listings: +1.7%

  • Days on market: 66, up 14 days

  • Closed sales: -9.9%

  • Months of inventory: 2.3, compared to 1.9

In Fort Worth specifically, the trend is similar, with the exception of active listings:

  • Median price: $335,000, down 4.3%

  • Active listings: -1.3%

  • Days on market: 69, up 15 days

  • Closed sales: -4.1%

  • Months of inventory: 2.4, compared to 2.1

“Change in plans - the deadline’s been moved up to four days ago.”

🥾PEOPLE ON THE MOVE:

  • Keller Williams Realty: Adds Anna Marie Valdez as agent

  • SafeHaven of Tarrant County: Hires Ronna Quimby Huckaby as Chief of Mission

  • Gore Range Capital: Adds Danny Zakria as Entrepreneur in Residence

✂️SNIPPETS:

  • Retired couple books 51 consecutive cruises, says it’s cheaper than retirement home.

  • The IRS has released higher tax brackets for 2023 adjusted for inflation. Find out what you’ll be paying here.

⌚TODAY IN HISTORY (October 9):

  • 1855: American inventor Isaac Singer patents sewing machine motor.

  • 1936: Hoover Dam began producing electricity and transmitting it to Los Angeles.

  • 2006: Google announced it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion.

“Until mortgage rates start to come down, buyers are going to continue to be limited in their price range and therefore their options.”

— Bart Calahan, 2023 President of the Greater Fort Worth Association of REALTORS

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