State for Corporate Expansions and Locations
Site Selection 2020
Gun Barrel City, TX Economic Development Corp
On the Shores of Opportunity
Gun Barrel City, TX Economic Development Corp
Lakefront Getaway for Dallas Weekenders & Tourists
Gun Barrel City, TX Economic Development Corp
Thriving Lakefront Community 1 Hour from DFW
Gun Barrel City, TX Economic Development Corp
Live at the Lake. Work at the Lake. Take in the Action. 1 Hour from DFW.
Build your business, grow your investment portfolio and make a home for your family in our resort city on Cedar Creek Lake. Surrounded by forest and located one hour from the DFW Metroplex, Gun Barrel City, Texas is the commercial, retail and entertainment hub of Cedar Creek Lake. A popular tourist destination, Gun Barrel has become home to a growing number of full time residents, telecommuters, and retirees wanting to live the good life. With new schools, incredible restaurants, live music, shopping and lakefront activities, it’s easy to see why people are moving to GBC.
The Gun Barrel City Economic Development Corporation is here to assist the businesses, developers and investors looking to meet the growing demand for local industry and services. We offer site selection assistance, facilitate incentives and provide hands-on support for second-stage and expanding companies. We invite you to contact us to discover why GBC is the prime community to invest in outside the Metroplex.
The national news headlines in 2021 shifted dramatically, from wall-to-wall pandemic coverage to stories of extraordinary economic growth and recovery. After a dramatic downturn in 2020, the economy came roaring back with unexpected gusto — and that enthusiasm is reflected in the economic development activit...
Residents of Cedar Creek Lake are getting ready to enjoy the upcoming July Fest to be held July 30 at the Gun Barrel City Park. Historically, a firework show is displayed for attendees to enjoy but the recent disaster declaration made by Henderson County ha...
Sitting atop a woman’s shoulders was the best way to keep cool for this child as the water came down July 25 during the rain dance at Gun Barrel City Park. Read full article.
From agriculture to tourism, forestry to manufacturing, rural communities bring their own specific perspectives to economic development. They are proud to promote their unique value propositions, including quality of life advantages, natural beauty, commuter options to larger urban centers but with more affordable housing an...
Proving ROI for quality of place improvements typically centers around job creation and talent attraction. Economic development organizations understand that if their community does not have the workforce, they will likely not attract new companies to their area or see expansions in their local industries. ...
More workers are finding themselves out of a job (or becoming worried they might soon be) as a string of high-profile companies, mostly startups and in tech, have moved to freeze hiring or even to slash workers and rescind job offers. New unemployment claims edged u...
AUSTIN — For the eighth consecutive month, Texas broke job growth records for 2022 by adding 82,500 total nonagricultural jobs in June, and total nonagricultural employment reached 13,431,100, according to data released today by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). “Texas leads the nation once again, creatin...
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment has fallen to pre-pandemic levels, but that doesn’t mean the workforce is simply returning to normal. In March of 2022, a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, leaving 1.9 job openings for every unemployed worker...
GUN BARREL CITY, Texas — Country living, with lake access and lots of growth. It's what makes Gun Barrel City unique, along with its support for one particular presidential candidate - Willie Nelson. It's an eclectic city that brings something for everyone, and it seems lik...
GUN BARREL CITY–Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB), a statewide grassroots environmental and community improvement non-profit organization, recently named Gun Barrel City Beautification Committee a Gold Star Affiliate, a designation granted to 86 affiliates of KTB’s nearly 300 affiliates. Gold Star recognition is the membership recognition highes...
GUN BARREL CITY–Gun Barrel City Council approved the use of $80,000 out of the Hotel and Motel Fund for an Electric Fall Festival in November. The festival was the idea of Council Member Gary Lerew and Mistletoe Mania Owner and Event Planner Renee Weaver. Bot...
CEDAR CREEK LAKE–During the April Luncheon of the Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber of Commerce (CCLACC), members heard about the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program from program President Charlene Heydinger. PACE is a proven financial tool that incentivizes Texas’ property owners to upgrade facility infrastructur...
In Texas, Dan and Emily find a waterfront home on Cedar Creek Lake that has tons of potential but needs a lot of work. They hope their budget will be enough to give them the open floor plan and modern farmhouse look they desire, turnin...
Website Engages Community Members and Business Owners GUN BARREL CITY, TX -- Gun Barrel City Economic Development Corporation recently launched a newly designed website, created by Golden Shovel Agency, to further strengthen its online presence and to foster economic growth. The website is beautifully designed wit...
Pier 334, the Rebuild of Big Chief Landing: 60 room Boutique Hotel (55 standard rooms and 5 luxury suits) A 20,000 square foot, three-story food and entertainment Pavilion Splash Park Amphitheater and stage A Marina built on floating docks with 40 boat slips 225 parking spots as well as Valet parking ...
Profile of the Consultants Survey Respondents At least 80 percent of those responding to our 17th annual Consultants Survey work with manufacturers of durable goods, with some of these consultants also working with other manufacturers, and three quarters are working on distribution/logistics projects. Nearly half represen...
The challenges faced in 2020 were unlike any other confronted in our lifetime. The global pandemic wreaked havoc on our personal and professional lives and the U.S. and global economies. The Commerce Department reports that U.S. GDP declined 3.5 percent in 2020, with the economy fallin...
When we last took stock of Area Development’s Top States for Doing Business, it was a bit hard to gauge what “doing business” was even supposed to look like. In 2020, the country was riding one wave of COVID-19 after another, mixing times of turmoi...
Covid-19 has resulted in wild gyrations in the supply chain with the hard-hit semiconductor industry having a major impact on U.S. auto manufacturing. From its beginning, Covid-19 resulted in auto plants closing around the country while sales of computers and other consumer products skyrocketed. Whe...
It’s no secret that the recipe for economic success usually includes generous portions of innovation and technology. That has been part of the economic development story for many years in such places as Boston, Seattle, the Research Triangle, and Silicon Valley. But just as you ca...
You’re evaluating a new site. It checks all the boxes when it comes to the property, local infrastructure, and business climate. You have one more box to check — labor supply. You’re presented with a hodge-podge of numbers. How can you make sense of i...
It seems like the ultimate good-news story. The shift toward electric vehicles will greatly improve the long-term climate health of the planet. It’ll improve human health, too, by reducing pollution. It’ll create thousands of jobs in new industries, with new manufacturing operations lifting local economies...
For nearly two years, the predominant COVID-19 driven incentive compliance issue looming over companies has been the difficulty to achieve and report on headcount performance as part of economic development incentive agreements. The evolving workplace landscape precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic adds another wrinkle to thi...
The digitizing of the economy is pervasive, whether you’re performing quality control in an automated manufacturing plant; undergoing a medical procedure; operating a container crane at a backed-up West Coast port; launching fabrication of a 3D-printed prototype; or putting the finishing touches on a breakthroug...
Chances are high that if you’ve been traveling around various regions of the United States in the past few years, you have noticed a solar array where one was not previously. I have had a similar “ah-ha” moment. You may have been struck by the fac...
Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Laura Kelly of Kansas are covered extensively in this issue as the winners of the 2021 Governors’ Cups — the former for total qualified capital investment projects last year and the latter for total per capita projects. The governor...
The ink on Intel’s $20 billion investment deal in Ohio was barely dry in January when experts started weighing in on the long-term impact of the deal. Much of the analysis in the press centered on Ohio’s $2 billion incentives package for the $200 billion California-base...
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas started off strong in the first month of 2022 with gains of 29,000 total non-agricultural jobs in the first month of 2022, exceeding the previous record employment level set in December 2021 by reaching more than 13 million jobs, the Texa...
Whether you teach kids, tend bar, make sales calls, develop apps, or do whatever else for a living, you may have spent some period of the last two years considering doing something new. The COVID-19 pandemic rewired the way many of us think about th...
Gun Barrel City is planning a classy new waterfront development in the Big Chief area on Cedar Creek Lake (Reservoir). Pier 334 promises to impress visitors as they travel over the Cedar Creek Parkway (Highway 334) bridge into town. The building's three levels of floor-to-ceiling glas...
Over the past two years, building occupants have become more aware of the health of the environment around them, especially indoors. Additionally, awareness of “Sick Building Syndrome” — the idea that building occupants become sick from the building they work in — has grown. Now...
A prerequisite for a high-quality workforce is people. To upskill employees, attract remote workers, or fill a skill gap through a community college program, you first need people. That may be rather obvious, but talent attraction and retention efforts have been built on the assumptio...
Texas is going to need a bigger trophy case. Sports teams win trophies for accomplishments big and small, but championship trophies are the singular physical representation of a team’s season’s worth of hard work and dedication. Players and coaches who work hard enough to win ...
In 2019, McKesson Corporation joined the seemingly constant wave of companies relocating from California to Texas. In McKesson’s case, the move took the headquarters of the 76,000-employee company from San Francisco to the Las Colinas master-planned development in Irving. Three years later, Brian Tyler — wh...
As the world enters its third year of COVID-19, site selectors are doubling down on predictions they made a year ago. From reshoring and supply-chain tightening to remote working and worker shortages, site selectors are telling us that the trends exacerbated by the global pandemi...
Making talent attraction easier, and more effective is top of mind for many economic developers and the businesses they support. Talent attraction has been a challenge post-pandemic, whether that means getting people already in the community to work at their highest potential or attracting talen...
Retailers from Samsung to Disney are buying 'virtual real estate' sometimes in the millions of dollars to have a presence in the metaverse. Make no mistake, the metaverse is going to be huge and it will happen much faster than the dawn of websites, socia...
As businesses throughout the country struggle to fill job vacancies, EDCs are stepping up to the plate. EDCs are working with community partners to develop innovative programs, connect talent with employers who are hiring, upskill the local workforce, and grow a pipeline of next-generation workers...
Empathy is now a strategic imperative for leaders. Here are four ways to embrace empathy and build teams with higher levels of productivity, innovation, and engagement. Click here to view the video.
Texas is the top exporting state for 19 consecutive years, and the The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reports trade up 34% in 2021. Texas is also #1 in foreign direct investment. Click here to vew the video.
Henderson County Judge Wade McKinney said he has been informed that population changes in the 2020 Census are such that the county will have the task of redistricting. “That process will be beginning soon, especially if we want to get it done by Nov. 15,” h...
MABANK–As educators seek more creative ways to support students’ learning, a key resource for schools is the local public library. Now, Tri-County Library and Mabank Independent School District (MISD) have formed an innovative new partnership to increase students’ access to ebooks and digital audiobooks b...
The Gun Barrel City Council and Economic Development Corporation met in a joint session Tuesday, concerning a proposed $12 million dollar hotel project at Big Chief Landing. After executive session, a first reading was conducted on a resolution between the Gun Barrel City EDC and YNS Services...
GUN BARREL CITY, Texas — Despite his short stature, Jim Malone walks tall along the hallways of the Kemp Care Center. At 74, he’s known widely among residents and staff as the man who created the slogan for Gun Barrel City, Texas. Malone holds u...
GUN BARREL CITY, Texas — Sandra Ward is met with a calm but steady wind as she opens the screen door to head out to her garden. “This is our all-around favorite plant that we planted,” Sandra said. “It is a pink shavon althea.” Just beyond he...
Gun Barrel City Discount Tire store manager Gerrick Allred receives a welcome plaque from Gun Barrel City Mayor David Skains July 13 along with members of the Gun Barrel City Council and Economic Development Corporation. Story & photo provided by 'The Monitor'
Fine dining, lakeside restaurants and homey cafes - Gun Barrel City has it all!
Come by boat or car to enjoy live music and entertainment at our local venues.
Tom Finley Park on the island has a public boat ramp, playground, pavilion and fishing dock.
Gun Barrel City - the lakefront hub of Cedar Creek Lake.
State for Corporate Expansions and Locations
Site Selection 2020
Best State for Business
Chief Executive 2020
State for Exports
U.S. Census Bureau 2020
Fastest-Growing State Economy
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis 2020