Town of Flower Mound, Texas

From the Mayor's Desk

March 2010

Mayor Jody Smith

While we continue to receive conflicting reports about the economy from the national media, Texas as a whole has remained stable. Areas including Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex have continued to grow while other regions remained stagnate. Despite a cautious business environment, economic development in Flower Mound has also remained steady.

A recently-updated economic development incentive policy is designed to make Flower Mound’s business districts more competitive in the regional and national markets, and a new Mixed Use Development Ordinance continues to generate inquiries from developers and investors. These, and other measures to boost the Town’s business environment, have begun to bear fruit.

The Lakeside Business District has continued to attract new businesses, on-going work to prepare the Denton Creek District for development continues, and efforts to attract new retail and restaurant development continue to pay off. More than 50 commercial permits, representing $102,843,558 million in value, were issued in fiscal year 2009. And, retail and restaurant growth has also remained steady with five restaurants and nine retailers opening during the same period.

Flower Mound also has a burgeoning medical development environment that will bring much-needed services to the Town. Scheduled to open this spring, the 180,000-square-foot, full-service acute care Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Flower Mound is projected to generate an estimated 500 jobs. Continuum Health Services is scheduled to open a 55,280-square-foot, 42-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital that is projected to generate 110 jobs and create several million dollars of additional tax base.

The facility will provide comprehensive state-of-the-art, patient-centered rehabilitation services in a “four-star” setting to include all private rooms, concierge, spa, wellness and restaurant services. Outpatient therapy services will feature a large dedicated gym with state-of-the-art equipment, aquatic therapy, and cold and hot immersion baths. In addition, the Medical Center of Lewisville opened a 24-hour Flower Mound emergency room and imaging center in November that is billed as the first of its kind in the DFW Metroplex.

While we remain fortunate in an unstable economy, we will not take these successes for granted. As these projects come to fruition, the Town Council and staff will continue to invest time and resources into aggressive economic development efforts that will benefit the entire community.