View Robert Tully, Venture Executive - Gulf Coast Growth Ventures for ExxonMobil Chemical Company as he addresses members of the VEDC.

Partnerships are important to successful community economic development efforts and the Victoria community has a great history of bringing the right partners together to make projects work. At the Victoria Economic Development Corporation (VEDC) we often tell our clients that while our organization does not own land or buildings, we possess many great partnerships that will help make their project a success in our community.

Although Victoria College’s Emerging Technology Complex is still weeks away from its official opening, training has already begun in the state-of-the-art Industrial Training Center at the complex.

Victoria clocked more than $150 million in development in 2014, thanks in part to a drilling boom that shot Texas' oil production to the highest it has been in decades.

It's not just oil and gas playing into the city's construction figures. Demand for housing in Victoria has rocketed during the past five years, bringing a flurry of developers who are attempting to fill the void.

Planning Services Director Jared Mayfield said Victoria has seen more development in the past fiscal year - from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 - than it has in any recent history.

The Milken Institue has announced their Best-Performing Cities for 2014. The annual report cites Texas as a "jobs machine" and they rank Victoria, Texas 3rd on their index of Best-Performing Small Cities, 2014. Increased wages and strong five-year job growth pushed Victoria, Texas up the list ahead of two other top 10 Texas small cities; Midland and College Station-Bryan.