Westwood Gymnastics owner Brett Dodd is expanding his business into Missouri City.

Missouri City City Council approved Dodd’s zone-change application March 7. Approximately 28 acres southwest of the intersection of Knights Court and Hwy. 6 will be rezoned from suburban district to planned development district.

Dodd plans to build a 30,000-46,000 square-foot gymnastics, tumbling and cheer facility as well as an 8,000-10,000 square-foot swim academy. The site will also have about 60,000-65,000 square feet of commercial space.

“It’d be a great place to open up another facility between [master-planned communities] Sienna Plantation and Riverstone,” Dodd said.

The $3 million project—which includes the cost of land— will be built in three phases. Construction on the gymnastics facility will commence in July or August, followed by the swim facility in fall 2017 and the retail development in 2018 or 2019, Dodd said.

Although the location is near Dance Works and the Athletic & Performing Arts Center, Dodd said he does not anticipate a conflict. He does not offer dance classes and his gymnastics program does not offer as many competitive levels as the APAC.

“There’s a lot of kids in Missouri City and Sugar Land, and I think we can [all] coexist,” he said. “We try to focus on the recreational side of things.”

Dodd has not named the new gymnastics facility but said it likely would not be called Westwood. He will own the swim facility but said he is working with FINS to lease the space. FINS, swim instruction school, has locations in Spring, The Woodlands and Humble, and a Cypress location is under construction.

The retail component of the development was an add-on to the plan because of the site’s available acreage, Dodd said.

“I feel like it would be a great place for [retail businesses],” he said.

The conceptual design of the buildings provided to City Council showed separate structures connected by parking lots.

“[Dodd is] looking at restaurants and different facilities where parents or someone who is dropping someone off at the gymnastics studio would stay within that general campus,” Missouri City senior planner Jennifer Thomas said.

She said the property was historically difficult to develop, and as a result some of the acreage may remain undeveloped. Assistant City Manager Scott Elmer said Dodd would need to raise the development one foot above the 100-year floodplain.