Forney Mayor Jason Roberson on what the opening of H-E-B means for the city
FORNEY – H-E-B is continuing its expansion across North Texas.
The popular Texas grocer announced on Feb. 23 its plans to expand to Forney, about 20 miles east of Dallas.
The store will open its doors in the Villages at Gateway development, located east of North Gateway Boulevard and U.S. Highway 80.
Forney Mayor Jason Roberson says the addition is huge.
"There's so much money here, but the problem is, we are losing the revenue to other cities…we call this retail leakage," he said.
Roberson has only been the mayor for 10 months, in addition to being the city's first ever African American mayor, but he says the process to get H-E-B to come to Forney took years.
"This is a defining moment," Roberson told CBS News Texas.
Roberson and his wife moved to Forney 15 years ago. He says between then and 2020, there has been a 60% increase in population.
Offering Forney residents the grocery store is just one of the hurdles Roberson says there are to cross.
"This is one of the largest, if not the largest retail construction project underway in the State of Texas right now," he said. "...We have been working on this for years, long before I got in office as mayor, long before I started volunteering with the economic development office....this is a big, big problem that we are finally able to solve."
Watch the full interview with Mayor Roberson in the player above.