What Bell Helicopter started in 1951 as a "modern," $3 million headquarters, corporate campus and manufacturing facility in far east Fort Worth is about to get a $235 million makeover.
Bell's announcement Tuesday that it will consolidate many of its now far-flung operations back at the original 133-acre campus on Texas 10 is good news and an economic shot in the arm for all of Tarrant County. The company said it would demolish its administration building and construct a new headquarters with approximately 210,000 square feet of office space, as well as build or renovate other facilities.Bell has 6,700 employees, most of them skilled workers and administrative personnel, in North Texas.The consolidations will include relocating Bell's customer training academy back to the headquarters campus from Alliance Airport, where it was moved in 2005. Flight operations for that training once again will take place above the Trinity River flood plain south of the headquarters.Bell facilities in Arlington and Grand Prairie will not be affected.Robert Hastings Jr., Bell's senior vice president for communications, told the Star-Telegram Editorial Board the company plans to spend $1 billion over the next few years in a corporate-wide upgrade that emphasizes research and development operations. A big part of that, he said, will be to build an "attractive, comfortable workplace" that will help the company recruit key administrators, engineers and other employees.Once that decision was made, Hastings said, Bell turned its attention to where the new headquarters would be and where the money would be spent."We started first with our home, Fort Worth. We have a preference to spend it here," he said. Still, in May the company let its intentions be known to a wide range of economic development experts, allowing other cities to compete for Bell's investment."We have to face reality," Hastings said.But in the end, economic development incentives from Fort Worth and Tarrant County helped seal the deal. Corporate campus work is expected to begin before the year's end and be completed in 2015.Jay Chapa, Fort Worth's economic development director, said the incentives consist of tax breaks on the added value of Bell's property over the next 20 years. Bell will agree to city requirements for hiring Fort Worth residents and using Fort Worth minority and women-owned contractors. Chapa said the incentives will be worth $13.5 million to Bell. Fort Worth expects to receive $46.7 million from Bell over those 20 years in tax receipts not affected by the incentive plan.Tarrant County Administrator G.K Maenius summarized the local impact: "Bell stays."The incentive packages still face approval from the City Council and Tarrant County commissioners, but that is likely.Bell's Texas 10 neighbors in Hurst and Euless hope Bell's decision will benefit them. Texas 10 once was a center of activity in Northeast Tarrant County, but that role began gradually moving north when Airport Freeway opened in 1964.Economic development along Texas 10 was expected to be spurred by the expansion and modernization of the roadway beginning in 1989, but those hopes remain largely unachieved. It's now a modern, six-lane thoroughfare, but it is lined with buildings and industrial facilities that mostly have seen better days.Texas 10 divides Fort Worth from Hurst, where Mayor Richard Ward said he and other city officials hope to see a new hotel near the Bell campus. Bell said visits from its customers, business partners and job candidates generate thousands of room nights per year.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
