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http://www.wacotrib.com/news/busines...f2feb970f.html

DOWNTOWN VISION

Downtown office project holds promise, raises questions of demand

By J.B. SMITH jbsmith@wacotrib.com Sep 22, 2017

The idea of a giant office complex might not seem exciting compared to other things going on downtown: hip restaurants, SoHo-style lofts, full-service hotels and the home-decor mecca known as the Magnolia Silos.

But the minds behind the Civic Center project beg to differ.

Dallas developer Phillip Williams and Waco urban development consultant Chris McGowan say the 550,000 square feet of “modern office space” they hope to create around Heritage Square could help transform downtown and Greater Waco. Based on real estate averages, that office space could support 1,000 professional jobs, jobs filled by people who might want to eat at those hip restaurants, live in those lofts and dispose of their disposable income all around town.

Bigger than that, it means reversing the flight of Waco’s young talent to the big cities by luring some big-city jobs to Waco, McGowan said.

Renderings from the article