Officials were hoping to turn Wesley Drive near I-45 into a destination for both residents and visitors alike, but City Council voted down the Riverbend plan in a 4-4 vote with opponents proclaiming the city should not incentivize developers to build multifamily housing, restaurants and retail.
However, this vote was not the end for the project.
Developer WB Property Group revised the plans and put them before City Council again in January under the name Riverview. This time, the contract for the project passed 5-3 with Council Member Justin Hicks changing his vote to allow it to move forward.
“I just held out for a better deal,” Hicks said. “That was it.”
By fall, WB Property Group will have broken ground on the $125 million project. When it is built by late 2029, Riverview will include apartments, senior housing, townhomes, restaurants, retail shops, office buildings and a slew of amenities, city leaders and the developer said.
“We’re creating the gateway to League City where families can come and spend their weekends,” WB Property Group Manager Robert Weinstein said. “We picked this site because of proximity to [Clear Creek] and also because we saw an opportunity to really create a gem of a gateway to League City where people could spend more time in League City rather than going to Webster and the surrounding areas.”
New chance
In late 2018, League City staff shared their excitement for a project dubbed Epicenter League City, which would have included a convention center, a sports arena, hotels and other attractions at the site of the Chester L. Davis Sportsplex along I-45.
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Officials said the project would have made League City a destination and attracted visitors. Promoting tourism is a focus among League City leaders, they have said.
However, by 2020, the project was essentially dead with the developer not putting up the money required to initiate construction. Riverview—which is under contract, making work possible—is another chance for League City to establish a destination hot spot, officials said.
“That’s really what the drive was for me from the get go was to create a destination spot because we haven’t really had one,” said Sarah Greer Osborne, director of communications and media relations for the city. “There’s just kind of a lack of that kind of that family stuff.”
David Hoover, director of planning and development for League City, said he has been working to get Riverview started for two years. With the city and WB Property Group having signed the agreement in January, work will begin this year, and Hoover said it feels good to reach this point.
“It really is nice when you see things happen. It’s what I work for,” he said. “The really cool part is when you see it on the ground.”
In a late 2021 survey of League City residents, 55% of respondents ranked League City as an excellent or good place to visit. That is below the 62% average of cities across the country and 59% average of Texas cities, according to survey data.
Riverview is an attempt to make League City seen as more of a destination spot. Motorists traveling between Houston and Galveston will see this development right off I-45, and some will stop by, city leaders said.
“I’m just excited because people drive by us and don’t even know they’re driving through League City,” Osborne said. “This is going to be the first entrance into our community.”
Project details
Partly due to League City City Council’s tendency to avoid Chapter 380 agreements, which allow cities to incentivize developers to stimulate commercial activity, the city has seen a slowdown in commercial developments with one new commercial development in 2021 compared to 18 in 2017. However, the council made an exception for Riverview after the developer agreed to prioritize amenities more, Hicks said.
“I think we made a lot of concessions on our end, but one thing we always found ... was everyone always wants what’s best for the citizens of League City, including ourselves,” Weinstein said.
One of those concessions was altering the schedule of when certain amenities will be built. Under the signed agreement, WB Property Group has to build several amenities—such as a marina, an amphitheater and an outdoor gym—by certain years in the project. If it does not, the group will miss out on up to $8 million in incentives, Hoover said.
On top of the $8 million League City will give to the developer for building everything it has promised on schedule, the city will pay an additional $6 million in incentives for WB Property Group to construct the infrastructure necessary to build out the buildings and other parts of the project, Hoover said.
Despite the $14 million in incentives lined up for the developer, at least the $8 million in incentives will not come from existing taxpayers. Sales and property tax revenue generated by Riverview—not the rest of the city—will fund the incentives, Hoover said.
“The money doesn’t come from anywhere else. There’s no subsidizing from anywhere in the city,” he said.
The agreement is a win for the city because League City will retain millions in dollars of revenue generated by the project despite the incentives, he said. Additionally, the incentives will be awarded only if WB Property Groups completes benchmarks of the project on time. The first phase is set for completion by January 2024, and the project is scheduled to be complete by September 2029, according to the agreement.
“[Without the agreement,] it would take them about 15 years,” Hoover said. “There’s no way, in my opinion, at all that it would have been completely built out in 7 1/2 years without some kind of assistance.”
Weinstein said WB Property Group is committed to delivering each phase of the project on time to ensure it earns the incentives and pleases residents and the city.
“We’re on a short timeline, and that’s why we have our foot on the pedal,” he said. “We don’t have time to delay the project, so we’re trying everything to build as quickly as possible.”
While the project is set to be completed before the end of the decade, the payment schedule stretches beyond that. Under the agreement, the city will pay the developer in increasing amounts annually starting this year and ending in 2037. This is to ensure the city earns enough money from the development by which to pay WB Property Group, Hoover said.
Sweetening the deal
Without Hicks changing his vote, Riverview would not be moving forward. Hicks said he originally voted against the project because there was not enough in the agreement to benefit residents.
“The first time around, I thought it was a bit too expensive, and there were no guarantees he was going to do anything of significance for League City residents,” Hicks said. “The fun stuff—he was too short and vague about it.”
Hicks kept in contact with Weinstein and asked him to consider moving amenities, particularly the amphitheater, up in the schedule. Weinstein agreed, and now the 750-seat amphitheater and another half-dozen amenities—including a boardwalk, an asphalt trail and a dog park—are scheduled to be complete by January 2024.
“I’m fine with these 380 agreements; I really am—as long as it’s the right agreement,” Hicks said.
However, not everyone is a fan of the development, Hicks said. Hoover acknowledged some residents have expressed concerns about flooding and traffic. Congestion is already a top concern in League City, and some think adding a destination will only exasperate the problem.
Hoover said they are right.
“Will it increase traffic? If it doesn’t, you’re going to have a lot of disappointed people in City Hall,” Hoover said. “Of course it’s going to increase traffic.”
League City resident Joshua Fine expressed excitement for the project despite the concerns.
“The proposed project has potential of bringing more modern appeal to League City and jobs for the community,” he wrote in an email. “Traffic and additional crowding is a given with any community willing to keep up with the changing environments. Instead of allowing the city to become stagnant, the project will allow for an appealing place for younger families to settle.”
City leaders said League City’s effort to attract visitors will not stop with Riverview. The next project will have to be even better for the developer to have any chance at earning city incentives, Hoover said.
“This ... is, to me, a stepping stone to us because it’s the first. It sets the bar,” he said. “[Riverview] is absolutely not going to be the ending for us.”
