MIDLAND, Texas — As the Permian Basin grows, bringing in more entertainment and restaurant options continues to be a focus.
In Midland, they will now be getting some help in order to bring destination retail to the Tall City.
Retail development is looking to improve in Midland.
“Really part of a wholistic vision for making Midland a community where people want to come, stay, raise their families and invest long-term," said Sara Harris, Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation.
On Monday, the Midland Development Corporation hired Hickman Group, LLC for retail recruitment consulting services.
“It’s an agreement to make introductions and to bring developers in to look at Midland at property owned by the Midland Development Corporation, by the City of Midland and other locations in Midland," Harris said.
Harris explained what Hickman brings to the table.
“Personal introductions with executives and decision makers of the kind of destination retail that we want to see happen in Midland that maybe we’re lacking right now and that people are going elsewhere to find," Harris said.
A big challenge Midland currently faces is misconceptions about it being a small market.
“Along with the introductions, it’s just an education process saying how many people are in this region and what kind of a regional pull Midland is for the entire Permian Basin and for southeastern New Mexico," Harris said. "A lot of the developers are shocked at the population base we have [and] at the spending power we have here, so it’s just an ongoing education process.”
Hickman has worked with Midland City Manager Tommy Gonzalez in the past, helping to bring a Topgolf to El Paso.
“Sometimes whenever you send out information or make a cold call it kind of goes in the round file, but when you have a face-to-face meeting, when you establish that rapport, when you talk about what you’ve done, what you’re doing, the potential, then that goes a long way to breaking misconceptions and moving forward Midland," Harris said.
New support in moving forward Midland; the hope is this agreement will allow the city to bring in the destination retail desired by many.
“When you look at large employers, when they bring people in, they want to keep them here and part of that has to do with having things to do in Midland so everyone isn’t leaving all weekend, so they’re not trying to convince their employees not to fly out every weekend and just view Midland as a tour of duty.”
John Hickman of the Hickman Group, LLC sent NewsWest 9 the following statement after the agreement:
Strategic vision, economic development and strong city leadership is the key to success with any major city. Midland in my opinion is well positioned to take advantage of a multitude of opportunities in the retail, business and entertainment sectors. I am looking forward to using my experience, relationships and contacts to help Midland achieve their goals in these areas!