Study: Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin topped the list of downtown areas recovering from pandemic shutdowns.

NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) “Three years after the pandemic instantly emptied offices, storefronts and streets, Texas cities top the list of recovering downtown areas, with Fort Worth leading the state’s major cities.

Researchers analyzing mobile phone data and traffic patterns determined that up to 70% of downtown activity has returned to Fort Worth. It is the eighth largest city in the nation, behind Jacksonville, Florida, at 71%. San Diego, California leads the way with 99%.

Among Texas cities, San Antonio (68%), Houston (61%) and Austin (58%) performed better than cities like San Francisco (38%), Portland (37%) and Indianapolis (38%). Downtown El Paso, which the research team classifies as a medium-sized city, had the best ranking in Texas with 117% pre-pandemic activity.

According to researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Toronto, no data is available for Dallas.

The findings are supported by local data from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., which found that 90% of retail foot traffic returns to downtown. Domestic tourism visits are now up to 110% of 2019 levels.

In downtown, Class A office towers dominating the Fort Worth skyline, occupancy was again above 90% by the start of the year.

All of this is good news for David Barbarena, whose City Center-based printing and document company Falcon Document Solutions depends on other businesses being open for real business.

“Could I survive in another city?” he asked. “I have no idea. I will say that I am glad that I went through this in Fort Worth.

Barbarena’s sales fell 70% in April 2020 as shops and courts closed. However, in just a few months, he was able to bring back a fired employee. Another returned a year later as the city showed resilience.

Fort Worth, like other cities that experienced a successful comeback, had many sectors in the center of the city, and they were not too dependent on office jobs and technology. Travel times are relatively short and strict lockdown rules were short-lived.

“He has a new apartment in the city center. The center has several arts and entertainment venues, as well as downtown food and lodging. So all of that keeps it alive,” said Karen Chapple, professor emeritus of urban and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of the study.

Barbarena also received financial assistance from the city that first year. Fort Worth gave nearly $55 million to businesses, part of an aggressive policy decision by the city, according to economic development director Robert Stearns, who also trusted business owners.

“It was really the business owners who made those investments to make sure they stayed here,” Stearns said.

He agreed that in some ways the lack of reliance on Class A office space helped, as the city didn’t have to absorb as many vacancies as other city centers.

He has also provided support for a variety of developments the city is now focused on, including the Texas A&M downtown campus, redevelopment of the convention center, and the addition of additional residential space and hotels.

The biggest hurdle, he said, will be securing funding for the massive amount of infrastructure needed to move projects forward on time.