The AllianceTexas development is marking 35 years since it launched the mixed-use project around the cargo airport in Far North Fort Worth. Hillwood is leading the master-planned development around Perot Field at Alliance Airport.
Since 1989, AllianceTexas has had a $119.8 billion economic impact on North Texas and a $9.84 billion economic impact in 2023 alone, Hillwood President Mike Berry said.
“We had an unbelievable year. We reached the 19th ranking in U.S. cargo operations, and we’re the only non-passenger airport in the country that’s in the top 20,” Berry said. “That’s really a positive trend.”
In 2023, Berry said several additional companies expanded or moved into Alliance.
Southwire, a wire and cable manufacturer based in Denton, is expanding its operation at AllianceTexas from 1 million square feet to 1.2 million and adding 250 jobs.
Chicago-based McMaster-Carr, a maker of hardware supplies, announced a $360 million regional headquarters and distribution center in August.
Germany’s MTU Aero Engines has opened a maintenance hub in a former American Airlines facility.
“It was quiet for a while, but if you go and look at it today, it is hopping,” Berry said.
Berry said Hillwood has paid a total of $3.8 billion in property taxes to cities, counties, and school districts over the past 35 years. He said 574 companies are now operating on the 27,000-acre development and employ 66,198 people.
Since 1990, he said 14,659 houses and 2,776 apartments have been built.
“I think you could put this project up against any project in, not the country, but the world,” Berry said. “There’s really nothing like it anywhere else.”
Fort Worth leaders said Hillwood has also worked with local and state leaders to improve the area’s infrastructure. Last year, another segment of a rebuilt Interstate 35W opened from 287 to Eagle Parkway, just north of Perot Field.
“Those projects would have never happened without the leadership of your entire team at Hillwood,” Mayor Mattie Parker told Berry. “The [Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition] exists because of Hillwood, and it shows because there are communities across Texas struggling with infrastructure projects.”
Berry said Hillwood has also worked to allow better shipping options among different types of transportation.
“The Burlington Northern intermodal hub and a lot of the freight moving through Alliance, connecting it more efficiently to the interstate and state highway system, using technology to manage that freight,” he said.
Berry said Hillwood is now looking at options to accommodate “next-generation movement of goods.” AllianceTexas’ “Mobility Innovation Zone” is designed as a public-private partnership to develop new transportation and delivery options like self-driving cars.