2021 State of the City – We’re Back Baby!
The Frisco Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual State of the City Luncheon and Panel Discussion on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, at The Omni Frisco Hotel. This in-person event was completely sold-out and attended by approximately 350 members of the business community.
Mayor Jeff Cheney, City of Frisco, presented an overview of many projects and developments underway or currently planned for in Frisco, as well as reviewed Frisco City Council’s Top Ten Priorities. The city’s goal, as Mayor Cheney explained, is to increase the taxable property value of $35 billion to 50% commercial and 50% residential. Currently, commercial taxable value is at 30%, and the projects he outlined will help the city achieve this goal. Many of the project’s partners, such as The PGA, Omni Hotels, University of North Texas, and Frisco ISD were in attendance at the event.
The Mayor’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Mayor Cheney, Ron Patterson (President of the Frisco Economic Development Corporation), and Marla Roe (Executive Director of Visit Frisco). The conversation was moderated by Tony Felker, President/CEO of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce.
One area discussed was how City leadership established Frisco’s Recovery Task Force, which included community partners such as the City of Frisco, Frisco EDC, Visit Frisco, Frisco Emergency Operations, and the Frisco Chamber of Commerce, only a few weeks into the pandemic with the focus already on recovery and re-opening the business community while keeping the resident’s safe. “Having strong partnerships in place with our community partners prior to the pandemic helped us weather the storm and emerge strong!” shared Felker.
“Frisco’s economy is once again thriving, and the focus now is to continue growing the business community and bringing visitors back to our region,” Felker said. “Heading into the pandemic, Frisco was named the ‘Most Resilient Resistant City in the U.S.’, and we lived up to the billing! While some businesses definitely experienced struggles, many others saw opportunities.”
During the panel discussion it was clear that Frisco as a city is headed in the right direction for recovery. Tourism and hospitality was one of the hardest-hit areas during the pandemic. However, because Frisco was open for business, Frisco was able to attract many sporting events that would normally take place in other states. Now that the region is recovering, Visit Frisco has been able to book more events in April and May 2021 than in that same time period of 2019. The Frisco Economic Development Corporation has also seen many successes in relocating businesses to Frisco during the pandemic, with nine relocations from January 2020 to present, equating to 2,700 new jobs. Some of the businesses include Wiley X, T-Mobile, SoFi, and Magellan Health.
Cal Bostwick, Executive Vice President, CobbFendley
Brett Lee, President, Texas Health Hospital Frisco
The Frisco Chamber of Commerce State of the City Luncheon was co-presented by CobbFendley and Texas Health Hospital Frisco.
“CobbFendley is excited to once again be a part of a great Frisco event. We always look for opportunities to contribute to our community and the Frisco Chamber’s State of the City is always a big highlight for the year. We are looking forward to the continued successes of our community due to the outstanding partnerships in place,” shared Cal Bostwick, Executive Vice President of CobbFendley.
“Texas Health Hospital Frisco was honored to sponsor this year’s State of the City,” said Brett Lee, President, Texas Health Hospital Frisco. “It has been a year like no other, and as Frisco continues to move forward, we are proud to be part of that community partnership both in providing excellent healthcare and in helping to grow Frisco.”
Other sponsors making this event possible were the Road to Frisco Sponsor – Garver, LLC; Innovator Sponsors – PGA of America and Swypit; Visionary Sponsors – Altair Global, BKM Sowan Horan, CMT Worldwide, CoServ, Frisco Station, Linebarger Attorneys at Law, Newland, Oncor, Plunk Smith, RBFCU, Regions, and Spencer Fane. In addition, over twenty area businesses sponsored tables, with their employees and clients in attendance.
“Now we’re back and excited about the positive direction in which Frisco is heading,” Felker said.
When referring to the event early on, the Mayor, referenced a statement he had made after an EDC presentation, and which soon became the tagline for the 2021 State of the City event. This fun tagline came up several times during the discussion.
“We’re back baby!” said Mayor Jeff Cheney.
A video of the event can be viewed here.
Photos courtesy Suad Bejtovic Photography.
