Fixer Upper couple is transforming Waco into a boom town

The couple from the reality show Fixer Upper has taken their talents to a larger scale, playing a major role in transforming Waco, Texas into a boom town.

Tourism to the central Texas city has quadrupled since Joanna and Chip Gaines launched their wildly popular reality show on HGTV, which often highlights their hometown of Waco.

Home values in Waco have also shot up 19 percent in the past year, according to the Zillow Home Value Index.

Part of the reason: the Gaines couple have embarked on an ambitious renovation spree in downtown Waco, transforming a pair of disused grain silos into a shopping, dining and entertainment complex.

Joanna and Chip Gaines of HGTV’s reality series Fixer Uppers have helped transform Waco into a new boom town with their downtown shopping complex and publicity from the show

Magnolia Market at the Silos, the Gaines' downtown complex, has become a must-see for visitor, with shopping, lawn sports, and a collection of food trucks

Magnolia Market at the Silos, the Gaines’ downtown complex, has become a must-see for visitor, with shopping, lawn sports, and a collection of food trucks

The complex, built around a pair of old grain silos, includes an open grassy lawn for games, sports and picnics

The complex, built around a pair of old grain silos, includes an open grassy lawn for games, sports and picnics

The complex includes a bakery, a home goods store, a garden and garden supply shop, and a food truck park

The complex includes a bakery, a home goods store, a garden and garden supply shop, and a food truck park

Joanna and Chip Gaines launched their wildly popular reality show in 2014. They help clients buy and renovate houses

Joanna and Chip Gaines launched their wildly popular reality show in 2014. They help clients buy and renovate houses

The complex includes a bakery, a home goods store, a garden and garden supply shop, and a food truck park. 

It’s all gone a long way to overshadow painful associations between the city of 125,000 and the 1993 Branch Dividian standoff, where 76 members of the religious cult died in a fire after an FBI siege.

‘It was hard bringing conventions here’ before Fixer Uppers, Carla Pendergraft, the director of marketing for the Waco Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, told Fox News recently.

‘[Waco had] a little bit of an image issue,’ she said.

All of that has changed since the 2014 launch of Fixer Uppers, in which the Gaines couple helps clients purchase and remodel homes in central Texas.

Tourism to Waco has quadrupled since Fixer Uppers launched in 2014, with 2.6million visitors predicted this year

Tourism to Waco has quadrupled since Fixer Uppers launched in 2014, with 2.6million visitors predicted this year

The complex has helped inspire new associations with Waco, the site of a horror FBI standoff in the 1990s

The complex has helped inspire new associations with Waco, the site of a horror FBI standoff in the 1990s

Waco had about 500,000 to 600,000 tourists a year before the show launched, Pendergraft said.

That figure was 1.9million last year and is projected to hit 2.6million in 2017, she said.

Magnolia Market at the Silos, the Gaines’ downtown complex, has become a must-see for visitor, with shopping, lawn sports, and a collection of food trucks.  

The town’s newfound popularity even inspired a real-life ‘crossover’ with the Duggars girls of TLC’s Counting On.

‘Best day ever,’ wrote Jessa Seewald (nee Duggar) on Instagram in a smiling group photo during their April visit. 

'Best day ever,' wrote Jessa Seewald (left) in the caption to this Instagram photo during an April visit to Waco

‘Best day ever,’ wrote Jessa Seewald (left) in the caption to this Instagram photo during an April visit to Waco

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