Downtown Dallas Inc. Vice Chairman John Crawford has a long memory. Sixteen years ago, Dallas was a top contender to land the headquarters of aerospace giant Boeing. When North Texas ultimately lost out to Chicago, movers and shakers in downtown Dallas, including Crawford, got to work making the urban core more vibrant.
As the Dallas Regional Chamber prepares to submit a response to Amazon’s RFP for its second headquarters that promises to bring 50,000 jobs, Crawford is having flashbacks.
At the Urban Land Institute North Texas’ Impact Awards on Tuesday, Crawford, the event’s emcee, called Amazon’s HQ2 a “bigger and better trophy” than Boeing.
“This time there will be no apologizing, only looking forward,” he said. “Let’s bring the big A to Big D.”
Following Crawford’s opening remarks, the Eagle Family Plaza at the Dallas Museum of Art won ULI’s Public Place award, McKinney & Olive won the Innovation award, the Village of Rowlett won the Influence category, and the Statler Corridor won the Next Big Idea award. Herb Weitzman was honored as ULI’s 2017 Vision Award recipient.
