Southlake officials praise its benefits from DFW Airport

A man stands atop the unfinished control tower at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport looking out at massive frames that will become terminals and the long stretches of concrete that will become runways.

The video from the early 1970s touts the economic benefits of the airport and why it needed to be built. Concerns about flight delays and congestion bogging down the North Texas economy were concerns at that time.

It even showed the renewed emphasis on improving all the highways that will lead to the airport. Ironically, the highways north of the airport ended up becoming a bottleneck called the Grapevine Funnel that wouldn’t be expanded until 2013 with the DFW Connector project.

Regardless, the video shows the regional foresight that went into creating what was the largest airport in the world at that time. Even with five airport terminals and seven runways, DFW Airport still has plenty of room to grow as it spreads over four municipalities and two counties.

The airport generated about $37 million in economic impact for the region in 2015 and will probably surpass that this year. It’s the third busiest airport in the world in terms of operations and 10th busiest in the world in terms of passengers carried.

Now, 42 years after it opened, Southlake leaders attribute much of their city’s success to the proximity to the airport. They gathered at Southlake Town Hall on Aug. 15 to talk about the city’s long-standing relationship with the airport and how it’s sparked business and residential growth in the city. The panel discussion was hosted by the Southlake Historical Society as part of the Taking Flight exhibit that looks at how aviation changed Southlake.

Mayor Laura Hill pointed out a sweeping aerial shot of the airport construction site from the video.

“You look towards Southlake and you see nothing,” Hill said of the town in the early 1970s. “I think that answers your question.”

She rattled off a list of businesses that have located in Southlake because of the airport, including T.D. Ameritrade and Verizon.

“They can get where they need to go easily,” Hill said. “Different types of companies started looking at Southlake.”

Frank Bliss, with Cooper and Stebbins, recalls the vision Brian Stebbins had to build a downtown from scratch—the genesis for Southlake Town Square. They knew in the 1990s that this would be a generational project that would take decades to finish and that has proven true.

“You can’t create a history that didn’t exist 50 years ago,” said Bliss, referring to how Southlake wasn’t a city until 1956. “But what you can do is create a history that’s going to be here 50 years from now. If you’re going to do something over that period of time, you want to do it with very good neighbors. DFW Airport was the best neighbor you could ever ask for.”

Greg Last, former planning director and economic development director for Southlake, said Sabre, which handles flight reservations, built its world headquarters on Kirkwood Boulevard and Texas 114 in Southlake after spinning off from American Airlines.

Sabre’s old offices at Highway 183 and Texas 360 were taken over by American Airlines for a while before being demolished this year to make way for the Fort Worth-based airline’s new headquarters.

The airport also was the catalyst for the city of Grapevine to have an alcohol election making the city wet so terminal restaurants could serve alcohol.

“That was maybe the best wet election,” said Lou Hillman, a longtime real estate agent in the area. “That was one of the most critical things that needed to be done.”

There have been some bumps along the way, such as noise complaints that occur when DFW Airport uses the diagonal runway 13R/31L for takeoffs, which sends aircraft right over the heart of Southlake at takeoff speed. The runway is typically used for landings, which are much quieter. The exception is when there are rare wind conditions or other runways are closed for maintenance.

Hill said the airport notifies the city when there could be takeoffs over Southlake and the relationships overall has been great.

Other factors could reduce the noise in the coming years.

“MD-80s are the noisiest planes and those are all going away,” said former Southlake Mayor John Terrell, who is also the vice president of commercial development at DFW Airport.

American Airlines is retiring the workhorse MD-80s in favor of newer aircraft that also have better navigation technology so they will stay on track for landing.

The ability to get from your home in Southlake to the airport terminal in minutes, which along with the Carroll school district makes the city an ideal spot for executives who travel, Hill said.

“We are really benefiting from people who are from all over the world,” Hill said. “They can get where they need to go easily.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Southlake officials praise its benefits from DFW Airport."