Fort Worth nonprofit created to hook businesses now touts thousands of jobs, billions in investment

At the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, the focus is clear— bringing jobs and investment to the city.

“Business leaders, political leaders, were looking at the scorecard and said, ‘Are we happy with that scorecard? Are we happy with the results that Fort Worth has seen, from the business attraction and recruitment perspective?’ The short answer was, ‘We think we can do better,’” said Robert Allen, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership.

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That conversation led to the creation of the nonprofit organization in 2023.

Now, two years later, the group is sharing its progress exclusively with NBC 5 ahead of its annual event on Wednesday.

Allen said the partnership has helped bring 11,000 jobs and nearly $10 billion in capital investment to Fort Worth. He said that it outpaces similar-sized cities such as Jacksonville, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Key wins include Bell’s multi-billion-dollar military contract announced in 2024 and two artificial intelligence supercomputing sites.

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Despite JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo announcing plans to leave downtown, Allen said he’s not concerned.

“I look at downtown Fort Worth as I look at Fort Worth as a whole,” he said, noting that both companies will remain elsewhere in the city.

Allen also said new development continues downtown.

“The big story, really, is that there’s over $3 billion worth of development in the pipeline for downtown,” said Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

Taft said restaurant sales downtown are now stronger than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that new projects, such as Texas A&M’s downtown campus, are already drawing new businesses — including a coding company from the Pacific Northwest.

“And so that’s the first of what we think is going to be a series of companies that are going to move to Fort Worth and hopefully downtown,” Taft said.

Looking ahead, Allen said the partnership is preparing to target 500 companies in industries such as logistics, aviation and defense, mobility, corporate headquarters, financial services and film by 2026.

He also sees opportunity in one of the world’s largest upcoming sporting events, which he hopes will help showcase the city.

“So that when you’re in the region, you can experience that hospitality in Fort Worth, and we again, ultimately want to make, not a one-time visit to Fort Worth, we want it to be a multiple-time visit to Fort Worth, and hopefully convince a few leaders to open some business here, as well,” Allen said.