San Marcos, Texas

Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy

San Marcos, Texas has grown from a college and tourist town to a city brimming with new business activity. Nearly equidistant from the thriving cities of Austin and San Antonio, the area sits in a “garden spot” to take advantage of economic opportunities related to each metro; these are in addition to strengths and resources unique to San Marcos itself. The dynamics of that evolution are exactly what this comprehensive economic development planning process was all about.

Market Street Services partnered with the City of San Marcos and its economic development team, Economic Development San Marcos, to coordinate a plan aimed at elevating economic prosperity for the residents, businesses and elected/appointed leadership of the Greater San Marcos area known as “Partners for Progress.” At the end of the eight-month project, San Marcos had a clear and unified picture of what type of place it “wants to be” and a prioritized set of action areas to achieve its goals. The resulting Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy answered the following important questions:

1. What are the area’s competitive strengths and challenges?
2. What development should occur in the San Marcos area?
3. What is the Greater San Marcos Area’s unique niche?
4. How can area leaders organize and market to support economic development?
5. What are the core “directions” that San Marcos must move in, and what are the priority actions that will enable the area to achieve its goals?
6. How can success in the Greater San Marcos Area be measured on an ongoing basis?

The Strategy’s three goal areas are workforce excellence, economic diversification, and quality of place, each including detailed objectives and action steps to be pursued over the next five years. The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy is a working document that results in tangible benefits and successes. This Strategy serves as a tool to unify Greater San Marcos’ public and private leadership behind a blueprint for the community’s future, including funding the implementation efforts, formation of a non-profit economic development organization under the umbrella of the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce, and attraction of a full-service Austin Community College campus to the region.

One of the first strategic initiatives successfully implemented was the creation of the Greater San Marcos Economic Development Corporation (GSMEDC), a joint partnership of the City, Economic Development San Marcos, and the Chamber of Commerce. The new organization will focus on the five-year implementation of the three goal areas identified by the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, as well as recruiting and expanding the target business sectors recommended in the Target Business Analysis.

In spring of 2010, the Partners for Progress group launched its aggressive $4 million fundraising campaign, with plans to raise $800,000 annually over the next five years to fund implementation of the Strategy. The full public launch of the fundraising campaign and the Strategy in November 2010 drew over 400 participants and including the announcement that the Partners had raised $541,000 in annual funding from the public sector. Leaders also noted recent corporate locations, including the San Marcos–Hays Solar Project, a $74 million solar array planned by International Power in southeast San Marcos. Also, in 2010, San Marcos qualified as a renewed principal city of the renamed Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.