WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - Downtown Wichita Falls development has announced that moving forward, the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce will take the lead in driving economic development efforts in the downtown area.

Wichita Falls Chamber CEO Ron Kitchens said this isn’t about taking over what the downtown development office used to do, it’s about realigning goals to better serve the community.

When it comes to attracting new businesses, downtown Wichita Falls isn’t just sitting back and waiting.

Kitchens said the area is in a strong position to actively pursue the right opportunities. As he put it, “We’re hunting, not fishing.”

He added that one of the chamber’s top priorities right now is identifying where redevelopment and reinvestment can make the most impact.

He said that’s why the partnership between the chamber and downtown development makes sense to align strategies and create a more cohesive vision for the area’s future.

“As we looked at the changes with downtown development, the direction they were going in more towards events, somebody has got to do the work. We already do the work for everywhere else in town. It was just a matter of realigning and adding into our portfolio,“ Kitchens said.

Moving forward, the chamber is turning to the numbers to help guide the way.

That involves knowing exactly which buildings are best suited for potential buyers to set up shop and operate successfully.

“First we got to know what’s available. We have lots of buildings. A lot of them aren’t habitable. We’ve got some that don’t have roofs on them. We have some that don’t have modern plumbing or access to elevators. We’ve really got to figure out what we’ve got, what we can sell, and then what has to be redeveloped to meet the needs of the marketplace,“ Kitchens said.

Paying close attention to these strategies is what Kitchen said will bring success to this new plan in the long term.

Kitchens said this process should take anywhere from 90 to 100 days.

His team is looking at the boundaries of downtown so that they can bring more development to the city of Wichita Falls.