Mayor Eric Johnson announced Thursday that he and City Manager Kimberly Tolbert will lead an official “Y’all Street” delegation to New York City next week in an effort to highlight Dallas as a business destination.
Officials declined to take questions during the conference, so many details of where they’ll be in the city and who they plan to meet with are unknown. A cost estimate of the trip is also currently not known, but the city said in a press release members of the delegation will cover their own costs of travel and lodging.
“During this visit, we're going to be highlighting Dallas as a premier destination for innovation and investment, especially in the financial services industry,” Johnson said at a press conference. “We're going to be working to strengthen our existing relationships with investors and executives and decision makers who help shape global markets.”
Tolbert said the delegation will be in New York next week for two days on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27.
Y’all Street is a phrase used by officials to describe the rapidly growing financial sector in Dallas. Johnson said the delegation will invite New York-based businesses to come to Dallas.
Tolbert said the delegation will be “on the ground promoting Y'all street and pitching Dallas as America's premier destination for financial services, investment and innovation.”
Dallas’ growth recently caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who in January posted on Truth Social that building a New York Stock Exchange in Dallas would be bad for New York.
“I can’t believe they would let this happen,” Trump wrote.
Just a few years ago, Texas had no stock exchanges. Now it has three, all located in Dallas. Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange — the heads of the national stock exchange duopoly — set up in the city soon after the announcement of the Texas Stock Exchange, a home-grown effort.
The growing financial sector often paints a contrasting picture to news of businesses leaving Downtown Dallas. Uptown has capitalized the most off of the finance sector, with Goldman Sachs currently building out a $500 million, 800,000 square foot complex in Uptown that will employ 5,000 people. Construction is expected to be finished in late 2027.
Johnson said he sees economic development for the city like a competition.
“I'm proud to say that I, along with every member of our delegation, is determined to win this competition,” he said.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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