People interested in Aubrey's future turned out on May 8 for the Aubrey Economic Development Tour.
The tour, which began in Downtown Aubrey within the Equine Instincts Gallery, included a video presentation about the demographics and background information about the community.
'This is a good first step for people to get in here and see what the opportunities are,' Mayor Chris Rich said before the tour began.
He also greeted the group as a whole.
'My goal has always been to make sure we hold onto the heritage that makes us who we are, especially while we're growing,' Rich said. 'I want downtown to be a destination and for future buildings to mimic the one we're standing in today. … We want people to not just live here, but to also be able to shop here, eat here, go to the doctor here and ultimately work here.'
Following the presentation, the investors, realtors, property and business owners, and Aubrey officials filtered onto the awaiting tour bus.
AMDD Executive Director Christine Gossett shared some resources available on the AMDD website, aubreymdd. com, including information about the grants available; data and demographic figures; real estate opportunities; and maps.
Gossett also served as the guide throughout the drive.
'When you're marketing Aubrey, you have to think about where the parts of Aubrey [are],' she said.
Although the tour did not venture east past the FM 2931 and FM 428 intersection, Gossett did describe the communities along FM 1385 that are either part of the city of Aubrey, such as Winn Ridge, or its extraterritorial jurisdiction, such as Sandbrock.
She also encouraged the group to sign up for the road updates from Denton County Commissioner Ryan Williams, Precinct 1, to track the state and county road projects that are proposed.
Those include the widening of U.S. 377, the FM roads that wind through Aubrey and the future Outer Loop project, which came up repeatedly throughout the ride.
Another refrain from Gossett throughout the trip: 'As you sell Aubrey, what I want to ask you is to sell that heritage and that culture that we love and we started out with.'
Dwayne Hildreth, who helped Tammy Tappan find her gallery space, hopes the growth can honor the history of Aubrey.
'The existing community needs to coincide peacefully with what's coming,' he said. 'In order to make an effort to maintain the legacy and the history for which it was known for—the horses and the agriculture—and then have a fine balance of the new development coming in. And I think the people that are moving this way want to experience some element, some level of that, even though they may not be organic to that culture.'
Nao Takada, who lives in Celina, was happy to see what Aubrey has to offer.
'Aubrey has been developing for the last couple of years,' she said, comparing it to how much growth her city has seen.
Sam Lee also was glad to see the opportunities available.
'We're actively working on other places in the area surrounding Aubrey,' he said.
Chris Branham, principal of Catalyst Commercial, is working on Aubrey's comprehensive plan and wanted to be part of the tour.
'They're ripe and situated well for development,' Branham said.
Realtor Corey Jones said it was good to be abreast of the coming developments and available and potential commercial tracts.
'It's good to learn what's coming to Aubrey … so we can pass that information on to our clients,' he said.
Scott Smith with Weitzman said the trip was worth the time invested because of the information he learned and the connections he made.
'The video was really, really good,' he said. '… We've been focusing on Aubrey for about four, almost five years now, so we've seen it go through those waves of growth.'
Bringing people interested in investing in Aubrey's future together was a good step in preparing for the additional coming growth, AMDD President Holly Drew said.
'She had people from everywhere,' she said. 'I think the connections were awesome. … I think it's helped tremendously for everybody to get to connect and talk and visit.'
