We have seen a surge of entrepreneurial communities, startups, accelerators, incubators, and collaborative coworking spaces making their presence in North Texas in recent years, and downtown Dallas has recently been the focus of many of these exciting developments.
Dallas is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Regulatory Climate Index 2014, a study that compares and ranks the efficiency of local regulations that apply to small businesses in 10 cities across America. According to the study, “Dallas’s vibrant business and cultural communities make it one of the most rapidly growing cities in the country.” It also states that “Dallas has also seen a wave of venture capital and new sources of start-up funding emerge in recent years—a promising sign for the future.” This is more good news for Dallas and downtown!
The Dallas Entrepreneur Center (DEC) has a new home at 311 N. Market in the West End Historic District after occupying a temporary spot in the SoftLayer building in the Design District. The DEC serves entrepreneurs in the Dallas area, providing a location where they can receive training, education, mentorship, promotion, and access to capital. The DEC will occupy 10,000 square feet of space with room to expand in the building. The nonprofit says it was drawn to its proximity to DART and other public transportation, as well as retail and business activity.
Tech Wildcatters and Health Wildcatters, Dallas accelerators, have both announced their moves into 211 N. Ervay, where they will occupy the second and third floors. Tech Wildcatters is a premier B2B accelerator and has been named to the Forbes Top 10 list of accelerators in back-to-back years. Health Wildcatters is a mentorship-driven healthcare seed accelerator program that runs for a 12-week period. Downtown’s growing energy and proximity to the DART rail were cited as reasons for the move.
Coworking space The Grove is also located in the West End Historic District. Members of The Grove include many startups and entrepreneurs, and are a dynamic community of freelancers, independents, social innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, and thinkers that are creating the new face of Dallas. The Grove has already expanded and has been raising money for their new expansion. The new space will add more open coworking space, 25 new offices, and more meeting rooms, one of which will be able to host about 25 to 30 people at one time. The Grove also houses rotating art shows, and Downtown Dallas Inc.’s SPEAKeasy exhibit will be onsite during the month of September.
Common Desk is a coworking space that has already expanded since opening in 2012 and is finalizing another expansion this month. It will now occupy 12,000 square feet in Deep Ellum. This work space for freelancers, startups, and artists has more than 100 members, including Uber and CultureMap Dallas. Common Desk was recently named one of the 10 “cutting-edge” coworking spaces across the country by Coca-Cola.
WELD, a converted warehouse in the Design District, provides collaborative work and studio space. It also hosts a variety of workshops taught by industry leaders worldwide. WELD is home to a community of creative types looking to connect with and learn from each other. Its leaders chose to open an office in Dallas due to booming economy with a low real estate cost—an environment that’s perfect for startups and entrepreneurs.
We’re thrilled to see this phenomenon take hold in Dallas and in North Texas and welcome these new communities to downtown. The best is yet to come!
John F. Crawford is president and CEO of Downtown Dallas Inc. Contact him at [email protected].
