The latest episode of The Building Texas Show, hosted by Justin McKenzie, brings listeners inside the infrastructure sprint underway in Manor, Texas, a 153-year-old city on Austin's eastern edge that grew 225% between 2013 and 2023. Mayor Dr. Chris Harvey joins the show to explain how Manor is preparing for an additional 22,000 residents expected by 2030, with 14,000 housing units already moving through the planning pipeline. The conversation lands as semiconductor manufacturing, logistics hubs, and Samsung-related suppliers reshape what Harvey calls the region's "Golden Triangle of Opportunity."

Across roughly thirty minutes, McKenzie and Harvey walk through the policy choices behind Manor's transformation from bedroom community to full-service city. Topic threads include:

• Building Manor's first ever city-owned library and recreation center, funded through a recent bond election
• A feasibility study supporting a proposed 50-bed hospital, anchored by a relationship with St. David's, which already operates a full-service emergency center downtown
• The push to diversify the tax base beyond residential property and recoup sales tax revenue committed away in a 1985 vote
• Manor's first ever comprehensive plan, a 600-page document mapping the next 30 years of growth

Harvey is candid about why the city is only now standing up basic civic infrastructure. "Our city is 153 years old and this is the first time we're building these facilities. And so that's phase one," he tells McKenzie. He also pushes back on assumptions about local tax policy, explaining that lowering the rate is a long game tied to economic development, not rhetoric. "The tax rate is not the tax rate because we want it to be a high tax rate. Being able to get to a lower tax rate is city leadership's dream," Harvey says, describing efforts to recover sales tax dollars and reinvest them into roads, parks, and drainage.

The episode also explores how Manor is knitting together workforce development with Manor ISD, which was for years the city's largest employer before logistics and semiconductor suppliers arrived. Harvey describes regular meetings between the city manager and the superintendent to share demographic data, coordinate employer recruitment, and connect new companies to college, career, and military pathways for students. McKenzie draws a broader Texas parallel, noting that Garland is currently the largest city in the country without a hospital and that Bastrop faces similar healthcare gaps, framing Manor's 50-bed hospital ambitions as part of a statewide reckoning with suburban growth, public safety, and public health.

The Building Texas Show, hosted by Justin McKenzie, travels the state to spotlight the mayors, builders, employers, and civic leaders shaping Texas communities. Each episode digs into growth, policy, housing, and economic development with the people making the decisions on the ground. The show is sponsored by Chisos Boots. This episode with Manor Mayor Dr. Chris Harvey is available now wherever podcasts are heard, and on YouTube.

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