TOM MULLINS, CEO of the Tyler Economic Development Council, gives a presentation as a panelist at Tuesday's "Sell Your City" event at the Tyler Junior College. He said Tyler and Smith County are growing at the same rate as the suburbs around Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, signaling a possible shift in the state's economic activity.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | ‘SELL YOUR CITY’

East Texas leaders took the microphone Tuesday morning to tell a group of real estate professionals why they should invest in their cities.

Tyler-based real estate company The Mortgages by Mallory Team hosted the event, called “Sell Your City,” at Tyler Junior College.

City managers and economic development leaders from Tyler, Whitehouse, Bullard, Lindale, Mineola, Athens and Jacksonville all gave pitches on the strengths of their cities.

Tom Mullins, the CEO of the Tyler Economic Development Council, said most

of the economic activity in Texas right now occurs within a theoretical triangle made by connecting the cities of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

He said Tyler and Smith County are growing at the same rate of the suburbs in those major cities, and there will come a time when the major triangle of economic activity shifts to the space between Dallas, Houston and Tyler.

“There are two cities in Texas that are getting younger,” Tyler and Midland, Mullins said. “The average age in Tyler right now just dropped from 34 to 33, and that’s driven by two groups, the young Hispanic families and the large number of students we have here.”

Susan Gill, the president of the Lindale Economic Development Corp., pointed to several new subdivisions that are being built in the area that will result in 918 new single-family homes in the next three years.

Of that number, 449 are ready for construction, 254 have been plotted or approved and 215 are in the planning stage, she wrote in the presentation. An additional 22 condos and townhomes either are under construction or approved for construction, and 180 multifamily units are under construction or in the planning stages, she said.

Officials from Bullard pointed to plans for a new wastewater plant, a nursing home with the help of a Texas Department of Agriculture grant and commercial opportunities along U.S. Highway 69, among other things.

Four new subdivisions are being planned in Bullard: Bullard Creek Ranch Phase 2, with 34 lots; Polana Springs, with 42 lots; Three Doves Phase 1, with 48 lots; West Ridge, with 125 lots; and Windsor Estates, with 59 lots, city officials said.

Whitehouse City Manager Aaron Smith said in an interview that the area is growing, too, with plans for income-qualifying workforce housing, apartment complexes and single-family homes.

He also pointed to the decision by Jasper Ventures to expand its headquarters in Whitehouse, the 2016 passage of just under $95 million in bonds for the local school district, and the voters’ approval of a tax reallocation that funds the city’s economic development council.

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