Stephenville sees rapid development as population and growth surge

BY ANDREW UTTERBACK

News Editor / Podcast Producer

Stephenville, Texas has evolved a lot over the last decade.

The “Cowboy Capital of the World” currently has around 22,000 residents, and is projecting a 22% population increase by 2030. This growth mirrors Tarleton State University’s growth as the fastest growing university in Texas, and a now prominent name in regards to sports after a strong Division I entrance.

All of this growth has happened quickly for Stephenville. Driving through the city's main road, Washington Street, you see businesses left and right that were pieces of land just a couple years ago. Entire shopping centers have been added with large, national brands while small businesses still continue to thrive.

Much of this growth is overseen by the Stephenville Economic Development Authority. Jeff Sandford is the President and CEO, and says the SEDA is funded entirely by Stephenville sales tax.

“We take a small percentage, (one eighth of one cent of everything), for our organization to operate,” he said. “We spend the vast majority of our time recruiting businesses, recruiting investment, recruiting new dollars into our community, that either advance and provide more jobs at our higher paying levels, so increasing the median wage, or investing with new buildings, new amenities, new things like that.”

In short, the goal of the SEDA is to work with Stephenville to (as the name says) economically develop the city. Over the past six years, that’s looked like more than 60 new projects and just over half a billion dollars in investments.

A large part of Sandford’s job is bringing new businesses to Stephenville, which he described as kind of like building a puzzle. Stephenville can’t just go and grab all of the businesses that people are asking for and toss them along Washington Street. Instead, it’s a game of figuring out not only what businesses fit, but where in the town they fit. “Fit” as in physically fit, but also “fit” as in making sure they complement the other businesses and steadily follow the population growth of the city.

“Even though there is a rich history of greatness in our community, we felt like there were some ways that we could expand upon those championship ideals in different areas,” he said. “And so we have attacked as many areas as possible to grow and make it (Stephenville) something that my own kids would want to stay here for.”

An important step in getting businesses to come to Stephenville is advertising. No one will put a business in a town they’ve never heard of. Sandford said the best advertising Stephenville has is Tarleton’s football team.

“Whether you're a sports fan or not, the biggest marketing tool we have is when our sports teams play on a national stage,” he said.

It doesn't end when the game is over either. Sandford said the coverage that comes after it, especially the coverage from publications like SportsCenter, reaches far more people than regular advertising.

The best example of this is when Tarleton beat Army last year. A game-winning field goal in double overtime put the Texans in headlines from ESPN to the New York Times.

Now, the city of Stephenville, Texas sticks a little in the minds of everyone who saw that game.

“Tarleton's success helps us tell the story of Stephenville's success,” he said.

Tarleton, without a doubt, helps Stephenville. The students of Tarleton also help support all of the business around the city from August to May. After summer break starts, the bars may be a little less crowded and the midnight drive through lines may be a tad shorter, but Stephenville still thrives.

Sandford says quite a few Tarleton students stay over the summer, and businesses simply budget their inventory for the months where student traffic may be lower.

“Obviously, when they (students) come back in August, it just goes through the roof. And so what our businesses have learned to do…you learn to sort of budget your stock based on the trends of the student population,” he said. “So you'll see ups and downs. In April, you have the Larry Joe Taylor Texas Music Festival that will see 60,000 plus people come into town. So they know to stock up at different places. It's still going to stay high through May because in May, you have all of the different things that happen with graduations. June still stays pretty good…and the summer school attendance though is much higher than it used to be. So you're going to have a higher number of people that stick around.”

He said in July, business does drop down, but only for it to pick right back up in August and September, once all of the students are back.

Despite Tarleton being such an integral part of Stephenville, the businesses aren't solely relying on the Tarleton student population. In fact, the student population really doesn't account for that much of Stephenville's total shopping traffic.

A “trade area” is defined as a region where a city draws its customers.

The population of Stephenville is only about 22,000 people. The trade area of Stephenville, or the number of people that shop in Stephenville, was 80,000 in 2018.

Now, that number is 147,000.

Even when you remove the number of Tarleton students on the Stephenville campus, the number of people Stephenville attracts is still well over 100,000.

This is why Sandford says that while Stephenville wants to cater to the student population, “The soccer moms and newly retired are just as important.”

Stephenville's recent development clearly caters to a wide range of people. Recently, residents got a Hobby Lobby, Ross, TJ Maxx, Old Navy and Five Below all in one plaza.

He stressed the need for a wide range of businesses for every type of customer. Stephenville is now catering to an audience that allows them to have common retail spots and restaurants like Ross and McDonalds, but also higher-end destinations like Venture19 and The Seeker.

Stephenville helps accomplish this by also catering to those outside the city limits.

“So now we're drawing in not just the students, not just the local residents, but people from out of town that now don't have to go to Weatherford or Brownwood or Granbury or Fort Worth for that matter. So now we're capturing dollars that are already being spent. We're not poaching dollars from anywhere in town, these are dollars we have been spending in other communities,” Sandford said.

Now, that sales tax money can be put right back into the city.

“So now if [the money] is spent in town, that sales tax rises, and that gives us a chance to invest back in our town, not raise people's individual taxes, as much, if ever, and we can still do the kinds of things that are needed to be done, such as roadwork, infrastructure, all those things that aren't real sexy, but are needed in a town that's growing,” Sandford said. “And we use other people's money, which is awesome. They're going to spend and buy a pair of shoes anyway, buy them here.”

So what’s new for Stephenville?

First off is a new convenience store right off 281 by Atwoods. That, combined with a new travel center will hopefully catch those driving past Stephenville and lure them further into the town.

Sandford said attracting new visitors is the key, because as much as the residents want new restaurants, for example, “we’re not going to eat a fourth meal.”

He said that when new restaurants come to the city, they inevitably take business away from the others unless more people are coming to the town as well.

New restaurants are still in the works though.

Sandford says new family sit-down restaurants are looking at parcels in town, and then addressed some of the most requested business, at least from the Tarleton student body.

“A variety of quick serve restaurants, or QSRs, are high on the list, and we will continue to pursue places like Raising Canes and Chipotle, among others,” he said.

A new Springhill Suites by Marriott hotel with 126 rooms and convention space will be built next to the Bosque River Taphouse.

A Home2 Suites hotel with 120 rooms will be built on the western part of town, and a Holiday Inn Express with just over 80 rooms will be on the Robert J. Glasgow loop.

A new Cash America pawn shop will join Stephenville's shopping catalog, and the Dairy Queen that used to reside on the outskirts of the Tarleton campus is being moved to the South Loop.

A new golf practice facility will also be built out on the way to Dublin.

A "luxury laundromat” will reside in between HTeaO and the Hampton Inn, and Sandford mentioned countless other plans soon to be revealed to the public.

It’s an exciting time to be a Stephenville resident or Tarleton student. The campus is growing at a record-breaking rate and the city continues to grow right alongside it.

There’s a lot to look forward to for the Cowboy Capital.