It’s only August, but if one just stopped at the
accompanying list of year-to-date new/retained jobs and square feet of
non-retail commercial occupancy, 2013 would rank as far and away the best
year in the history of Richardson’s
economy. Of course, the State Farm
campus, with five cranes now in place, pushed 2013’s numbers to all-time highs;
but even without them, 2013-to-date would be ranked as a fantastically
productive year.

In addition to State Farm, Extend Health (medicare supplemental insurance), United Healthcare (medicare supplement
insurance) and IQor (asset recovery)
are financial service companies that have found Richardson
to be a superb vantage point from which to attract a wide variety of technical
and business expertise. Between the former two companies, Richardson
will soon have a contingent of over 2,000 workers specializing in supplemental
health plans and creating a circle of excellence in that fast-growing financial
services niche. From a real estate perspective, it is interesting that the
landlord’s ability to provide 6:1000 up to 8:1000 parking was a crucial factor
in making all of these transactions viable.

The attractiveness of Richardson
to financial service companies has been key to diversifying the local economy
and insulating Richardson against the
type of economic downturn that occurred in 2001. That trend began in 2003 with
the addition of 3,000 jobs by Countrywide Financial (now Bank of America) and was
emphatically reinforced with State Farm’s decision late last year to bring
nearly 7,000 jobs to Richardson.

At the same time, the technology sector, including telecom,
is alive and well. Samsung’s leasing
activity is indicative of its growth and that of the wireless telecom sector,
seconded by the decision of California
wireless component maker 123eWireless to
lease space here. Iphotinix and Prodea  have some exciting new communications
technologies to offer.