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It’s not easy being the first. And it certainly isn’t easy to land a $600 million-plus manufacturing plant that will bring an expected 520 jobs to one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. But, in mid-December, Fort Worth did just that when Bell, a Textron subsidiary, announced it was retrofitting and expanding an existing plant to house manufacturing operations for the company’s new attack helicopter, the U.S. Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft set to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk as the U.S. Army’s long-range assault aircraft. “It’s a marquee project for the city of Fort Worth,” said Mayor Mattie Parker. Along with the jobs and investment the project will bring, Parker said it also solidifies Fort Worth’s status as a leader — now and in the future — in aerospace, defense and manufacturing. “It takes programs like this to continue to push the needle,” she said. The needle will be pushed at a manufacturing plant located at 15100 N. Beach St., a building that once housed a Stanley Black & Decker manufacturing plant. The city of Fort Worth had voted to give tax breaks to the tool maker for relocating jobs to the plant in 2019, but the deal was never finalized and, due to changes in strategy at the toolmaker, the plant was eventually closed. Now, the refurbished and expanded 447,000-square-foot facility in Denton County will manufacture components for the aircraft. The facility is expected to be ready for initial production by 2028. “It is an opportunity for the United States Army to revolutionize aviation tilt rotors with twice the range and twice the speed of traditional rotor craft,” said Lisa Atherton, president of Bell, at the announcement of the plant on Dec. 16. The project is expected to create 520 full-time jobs with an average annual salary of $85,000 by the end of 2039. Bell won the very competitive contract for the new aircraft in 2022. At the time, military officials said the contract was worth $1.3 billion, but could end up being worth in the range of $70 billion over the long term. But before Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials could gather in front of a giant autoclave at a Bell manufacturing center in north Fort Worth to make the grand announcement, there were plenty of t’s to be crossed and i’s to be dotted across a myriad of levels of government and private industry before the deal was sealed. Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a Fort Worth event in September 2024. Abbott visited Fort Worth to celebrate Bell Textron’s investment in a new manufacturing facility in December. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)First-of-its-kind deal ‘involved almost every level of government’On paper, Fort Worth and the Alliance area was a logical, if not obvious, choice. “From the beginning, Alliance has been a great asset to the region and an ideal location for aviation-related activity and manufacturing,” said Ray Perryman, a Waco-based economic analyst and president of The Perryman Group. “The Fort Worth area has a deep supply chain in this sector, thus enhancing the sizable impact of the new Bell facilities.” The city has housed Bell’s headquarters since 1951, and the aviation pioneer has made large investments in the city and around North Texas ever since with locations in Arlington and as far afield as Amarillo. The defense contractor was the second-largest industrial taxpayer in the county in 2024, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District.But a $600 million-plus factory that will provide manufacturing jobs and technological innovation would be attractive for any community. Plenty of areas across the country would be more than happy to lure a project like the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, according to elected and economic development officials. While Fort Worth economic development officials did not reveal who the competition was, they confirmed there were serious competitors for the project. Any project of that size would be complex, said Robert Allen, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership. But the fact the state had recently ended its sometimes controversial Chapter 313 economic development program and replaced it with the Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation program, known colloquially as JETI, added to the complexity. While Fort Worth was not the first city to apply for the new program, it was the first to carry it through to completion. That may give Fort Worth some bragging rights, but it also meant economic development, city, state and school district officials had to navigate the giant project through a dimly lit maze of unexplored and sometimes confusing government approval tunnels full of unexpected obstacles. Allen, who was previously president of the statewide Texas Economic Development Corp., said the project was unique for several reasons. He said it was the first time in his career where he had worked on a project with so many entities involved. “It involved almost every level of government,” Allen said. “Think about that. You get a U.S. Army contract, one of the largest in the history of the U.S. Army, the state of Texas is involved with the JETI agreement, a Texas Enterprise Fund offer with maybe more down the road, the city of Fort Worth, Denton County and the Northwest ISD. You literally have every single level of government involved.” A Texas Enterprise Fund grant of $2.7 million has been extended to Bell. Fort Worth City Council approved over $47 million in incentives on Dec. 10. Northwest ISD said it is projected to eventually receive millions of dollars from the plant, which is located in the district. Bell would pay no school property taxes from 2024 to 2028 while the plant is established and then receive a 50% tax break from 2029 to 2038. Denton County also provided incentives. Still, Allen said despite all those positive steps, he wasn’t taking it for granted. “I’m never comfortable about a site until there are employees and equipment in it,” he said. Bell Textron’s Manufacturing Technology Center in Fort Worth includes a 3D printer. The center opened January 2021. (Courtesy photo | Bell Textron, Inc.) Leaders wanted to ‘put the flag in the ground for Fort Worth’The Bell project is the largest Fort Worth’s new economic development entity has tackled since it was split off from the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce in 2023. Following the lead of the state’s other largest cities — Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — the Fort Worth chamber set up a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization, the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, to put a laser focus on economic development in March 2023. Fort Worth was viewed by observers as punching well below its weight in economic development for several years.In 2017, the city of Fort Worth published its first Economic Development Strategic Plan. The report detailed the city’s shortcomings in marketing, development, workforce training and business attraction. To lead the new effort, the chamber hired a state economic development leader, Allen, with strong ties to Austin. Since being set up in March 2023, the organization has worked on several projects, including a new Dick’s Sporting Goods distribution center, Big Ass Fans’ new manufacturing facility and the upcoming UTA West campus. But the Bell project was one of the largest in the city’s history and the largest for the new economic development entity. Keeping track of those various approvals and what documents were needed so that the city, the county and the school district had them available was no easy task, Allen said. It helped to have partners like real estate agency JLL, which was Bell’s broker and helped keep track of the process, Allen said. “I talk a lot in our business about playing small ball, getting the details right,” he said. “Nothing is too small. You have to make sure if there’s a piece of information that’s needed by other parties and somebody says, ‘OK, we got that. We’re going to handle that.’ You’ve got to note it somewhere and then our team has to follow up on that and say, ‘Did we do that? Did you get what you needed?’ so we can move to the next step.” Northwest ISD Superintendent Mark Foust emphasized the educational benefits of having the manufacturing plant in the district. “In addition to the new jobs Bell will bring to the area, this partnership brings incredible connections for our award-winning career and technical education programs,” he said in a news release. “The potential for real-world industry exposure will further equip our students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in the workforce.”For Allen, the deal represented a team effort that will bear fruit in the future.  “Being new to this role in Fort Worth, I wanted a big win. I wanted to put the flag in the ground for Fort Worth,” he said.  Beyond the economic development win, attracting a plant to build a next-generation helicopter is something to be proud of in a city whose ties to the defense industry date back to the days of Camp Bowie and World War I and before, Allen said. “That’s the bonus, the cherry on top,” he said. “It’s in the defense sector, space and defense industry, and it’s helping our men and women in the armed forces. Can’t beat that.” Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.