Three-legged stool props up Lubbock economy

LUBBOCK – With an influx of incoming businesses, the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance predicts population growth will be one of the biggest challenges moving forward due to the need to maintain a strong workforce.

“We basically have a three-legged stool. You’ve got Texas Tech, your medical and your agriculture communities, and they all help us to get people here,” said George McMahan, president of the West Texas Home Builders Association.

Local experts attribute the current influx of incoming businesses and an increase in residential housing to multiple factors. “The housing is related to the jobs, and businesses that are coming here are bringing those jobs,” said McMahan.

“When you are on an upward spiral like that, even the civil engineering firms are so busy that they are hiring more engineers, more surveyors — they are creating jobs to take care of the development,” McMahan continued.

The increase in Tech’s student body as the university hopes to increase enrollment to 40,000 by 2020 plays a major role in fueling local development.

The anticipation of the oil and gas industry entering the Lubbock market is another driving factor in the construction of residential homes, said Ron Betenbough, local home builder. An increase in landowners leasing mineral rights has led to stronger anticipations of a local oil boom.

Read more at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.