2 min read August 2022 — The city of Grand Prairie has a clear vision for the future. “We’re trying to become one of the Top 5 destinations for entertainment in North Texas,” said Mayor Ron Jensen in an interview with Invest:. Jensen discussed a variety of topics from handling the influx of new residents to supporting the small business community.
In addition to being mayor, you’re also a CEO. How do you find the balance between the two activities?
Running a company helps me understand how to manage people. Often during an election people think, “Well, he’s a businessman, he knows about the money side.” I’ve found the money side takes care of itself in a city. We’ve got great people in finance and leadership. The skills I learned running a company were more on the soft side, working with individuals, because even though you’re the boss and maybe the owner of a company, you still have to listen and trust your managers just like I have to do with the City Council. So, it was more the soft side.
Once I became mayor, it didn’t take me more than two or three months to realize I couldn’t do justice to both and be good at both. So, I stepped aside as president and became CEO and Chairman of the board, and someone else runs the day-to-day operation so I can devote some time to the business but more time to being mayor. So, it’s been an easy balancing act.
What are the highlights and milestones of your city in the last two years?
During the pandemic, we were able to maintain our budget and maintain our staff and get things done. I think that’s plain and simple. We were able to keep going to get things done. We had to be flexible. I was proud of our staff and the council because we were able to accommodate the changes. I think just being able to get through the last two years is the main accomplishment.
What business sectors are you looking to continue to grow within Grand Prairie over the next few years?
We’ve been underserved in retail and restaurants. So that will continue to be our focus. Grand Prairie is heavy in manufacturing research and development with companies such as Bell Helicopter, Airbus Helicopters, Flex-N-Gate and Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control Headquarters. But as time has grown, we’ve gone a lot into advanced technology and banking. Since we have so much available land that was zoned for industrial, we have a huge industrial base.
I don’t think we’re targeting any one industry other than other advanced technology enterprises (especially in aviation and aerospace); we are open for business, that is the easiest way to put it. If somebody calls us and says I want to bring the employees and I want to bring a manufacturing shop, we love that, but we’ll take the financial and advanced technology side as well. We’re underserved in retail and restaurants, so we’ll continue to focus on getting entertainment and especially the sales tax revenues that come with that.
We’re becoming an entertainment destination with our EpicCentral development. We already have more than 10 million visitors a year visiting our various entertainment venues and attractions, but we are working on EpicCentral becoming a Top 5 destination in North Texas with several restaurant and entertainment venues that we have announced.
How is your office supporting the influx of new people and businesses to the region?
We rely on our staff to keep up with the numbers. They meet all the time for future planning, and infrastructure critical to the growth of any city, including water, sewer, and roads. We know we’re going to grow a little faster, so we must stay on top of it. We rely on staff to do that. City Council is the Board of Directors and staff comes to us with a plan to take care of that growth.
What is your vision for the city?
We’re trying to become a Top 5 destination for entertainment. What I mean by entertainment, is that we want people coming here for restaurants, attractions and entertainment venues. That’s where our focus is right now, filling up that SH161 Corridor with pieces of the puzzle that fit the entertainment part. The housing is going to come but housing doesn’t pay the bills. Grand Prairie has a diverse tax base combining industrial and sales tax to complement our property tax value to keep the wheels running.
What are the programs and initiatives that have been most effective for small businesses?
It has been the work of the landowner and the developer. During the pandemic, we had developers and landowners that figured out how to maintain their businesses. They didn’t lose one tenant because they delayed the rent. It wasn’t the city. That was an individual developer with his own money deciding. They said, “I don’t want to lose you as a tenant. You don’t have to pay rent for six months.”
The major developers in our new area did not lose one tenant and it wasn’t anything to do with the government handout or a city of Grand Prairie handout. It takes individuals or corporations with their capital to be at risk for a city to become successful. Sure, we had the $75 million bond package to build the Epic Rec, EpicWaters and PlayGrand Adventures. But at the end of the day, we had to have a corporation that decided and believed in Grand Prairie.
What is your outlook for the city for the near term and what are your top priorities?
The outlook is very good. In the next few months, we will be making some major announcements to add to EpicCentral. Our focus is on bringing things to our city that we don’t have. Restaurants and retail to complement what we already have.
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