Development Updates


Many of these commercial or residential projects were announced or in progress last year. Here’s what is happening now.

Development Updates Part of the Brazos River Park development features the construction of a festival site.[/caption]

  1. The city of Sugar Land broke ground on Phase 2 of its Brazos River Park development and an adjacent outdoor festival site Feb. 26. The $12.3 million project includes the development of 76 acres of land adjacent to the University of Houston-Sugar Land campus over the next three years as well as the construction of the 52-acre festival site. Phase 2 will be delivered in three parts and includes 2 miles of hike and bike trails, 800 parking spaces and an overlook plaza as well as a variety of sport and recreational water activities. The city is also developing a 25-acre lake—Mid Lake—to accommodate additional recreational and leisure water activities as part of Phase 2. The construction of Mid Lake is expected to be complete in 2018. The installation of irrigation and landscaping for Phase 2 is scheduled for 2017 while the festival site is slated for completion in 2016.


Development Updates The first phase of Gateway Southwest Industrial Park wrapped up in late 2015.[/caption]

2. Conor Commercial Real Estate acquired a 36-acre tract in Missouri City at the interchange of Beltway 8 and Hwy. 90 in December 2014 for its Gateway Southwest Industrial Park. The three-building, 525,800-square-foot industrial park is being developed and constructed in two phases. Phase 1, which was completed in late 2015, included the construction of two of the three buildings. The third building represents Phase 2 of the development, or it can be immediately developed as a build-to-suit for lease.

3. Imperial Market—the future mixed-use development at the site of the former Imperial Sugar plant in Sugar Land planned by Geoffrey Jones and James Murnane—will break ground in March and is scheduled to open in summer 2017. The 850,000-square-foot development will feature a 274-unit luxury multifamily complex as well as 106,000 square feet of Class A office space, a 185-room boutique hotel, 275,000 square feet of upscale retail space and more than 2 acres of park and green space. The development landed Alamo Drafthouse as one of its first major tenants in December.

4. Planned Community Developers acquired a 5-acre lakefront site in Sugar Land in May and has plans to develop a six-story, 150,000-square-foot Class A office building, a parking garage with about 550 spaces and a 134-room Marriott Courtyard hotel on the site. The future development, which has been named Lake Pointe One, is situated on Brooks Lake adjacent to the Hwy. 59 and Hwy. 6 intersection.

Development Updates The expansion of Nalco Champion in Sugar Land is slated for completion in early 2016.[/caption]

5. Nalco Champion—a special chemistry program that assists with oil and gas operations—is in the process of centralizing its headquarters in Sugar Land and modifying its existing facility. Construction is ongoing on its new 133,500-square-foot headquarters on the west side of its existing facility at 7701 Hwy. 90 on a portion of an 18.5-acre swath of land purchased from Johnson Development Corp. in the Imperial Sugar development in 2013. The project is slated for completion in early 2016.

6. Trammel Crow Company is developing its second business park in Missouri City. Park 8Ninety Business Park is planned on 127 acres at the intersection of Beltway 8 and Hwy. 90. The Class A industrial business park will accommodate more than 1.75 million square feet of build-to-suit or speculative office/warehouse, distribution and manufacturing space upon build out. Construction on Phase 1, which includes three buildings totaling more than 330,000 square feet of industrial space, began in summer 2015 and is scheduled for completion this spring.

7. Houston-based Cernus Development has plans to develop a 436-acre tract that will include mixed-use and single-family residential options in Missouri City between Mustang Bayou and the Fort Bend Toll Road. Parks Edge, a 329-acre planned-unit development, will contain about 1,000 single-family homes, a recreation center and space for a future elementary school. A mixed-use commercial development is slated for the additional 107 acres. Development of the project will not begin for another year.

8. Riverstone Commercial Development LLC, a Sugar Land-based development company, purchased a 9.6-acre lot from Johnson Development in May to develop a new mixed-use neighborhood center at the southeast corner of University Boulevard and
LJ Parkway. Plans call for the land to be subdivided into six or seven retail pad sites intended for stores, restaurants, medical offices, a bank and possibly a day care center. The development company is expected to deliver the developed land to buyers within eight to 12 months from when construction begins in early 2016.


9. Schlumberger, a Houston-based oilfield services company, is relocating its headquarters to Sugar Land. The Sugar Land City Council approved two measures at its Oct. 6 meeting that finalized the deal to bring the company’s headquarters to the city. The two agreements with the city permit Schlumberger to construct improvements to its existing 32-acre Sugar Land campus, located at the northeast intersection of Hwy. 90 and Gillingham Lane. Improvements to the existing site include the demolition of certain buildings, repair of utilities and reconstruction of
the landscape.


Development Updates The Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land is scheduled to open later this year.[/caption]

10. Construction on the $84 million Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land started in December 2014 and is scheduled to open in fall 2016. The 200,000-square-foot indoor live entertainment and performing arts venue is located on a portion of 38.5 acres southeast of Hwy. 59 and University Boulevard in Sugar Land. The venue is designed to host a wide range of performances and will have a flexible seating capacity of up to 6,200 seats.

11. Sienna Plantation debuted the first 500 home lots within the Village of Sawmill Lake in early May as part of the 3,700-acre extension acquired by Toll Brothers in 2013. Johnson Development is designing Phase 2 of the village, which includes an additional 500 lots to be available to homebuyers in 2016. Johnson Development is also slated to construct a new amenity center in 2016. The center will include an event lawn, a community building, meeting room space and a recreational water attraction.