January: Missouri City leaders promote new growth while fostering investment, revitalization
When Diane White moved to Missouri City 33 years ago, the Texas Parkway and Cartwright Road corridor where she lives was a vibrant, thriving area.
“There were a lot of privately owned shops; there were businesses of all kinds and eateries ... that survived the area very well,” White said about the two roads, which intersect about a mile west of the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road. “But as time went on and the economy started affecting everywhere, it definitely affected that area.”
Much of the economic and residential growth in the city has since shifted away from the older parts of the community and toward undeveloped areas along Hwy. 6 near the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road.
February: Foster children without placement rise across Fort Bend County, state
The number of children without placement in the Texas foster care system has skyrocketed over the last two years, increasing by more than 1,100% since October 2019, according to data provided by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
According to DFPS officials, individuals in the state’s foster care system receive a “child without placement” designation, or CWOP, when the state cannot find a suitable and safe placement for that child, requiring the DFPS to provide temporary emergency care until a placement can be secured.
March: Sugar Land Town Square looks to modernize visitor shopping experience
Significant updates are on the way for Sugar Land Town Square that aim to improve walkability, encourage economic development and promote coordinated exterior development among tenants, according to the developers.
Located at the intersection of Hwy. 59 and Hwy. 6, the 1.4 million-square-foot district features shopping, restaurants and office space. Landscaping updates, storefront facade improvements and new restaurants and businesses are a few of the changes that have been underway since 2020 to transform the square into a regional shopping destination, said Matt Ragan, director of retail programming and operations for Rebees, the real estate company co-managing the development.
April
UH College of Technology prepares for move to Sugar Land
The University of Houston’s campus at Sugar Land already offers a few of its undergraduate and graduate programs from its College of Technology. That number will grow substantially over the next few years alongside the construction of a new $52.4 million building on the same property, according to UH officials.
The College of Technology is headquartered at UH’s main campus on Calhoun Drive in Houston, but that will change by 2025 when the entire college—along with all departments and programs—will have officially moved its headquarters to the University of Houston at Sugar Land, located at 14000 University Blvd., according to university officials.
Sugar Land Regional Airport eyes future development
The Sugar Land Regional Airport could see some new retail, office or hospitality developments in the future, pending the recommendations of a site assessment, airport officials said.
Located at the intersection of Hwy. 90 and Hwy. 6, the Sugar Land Regional Airport serves primarily corporate entities while also acting as a reliever airport for George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport. While the airport’s primary source of revenue is the sale of fuel for planes using the facility, officials said they are exploring other potential revenue sources, such as selling or developing unused land on the airport’s property.
May
Sugar Land 95 project focuses on education, remembrance
Routine construction in early 2018 for Fort Bend ISD’s James Reese Career and Technical Center led to the unearthing of remains for 95 individuals believed to have died at the Bullhead Convict Labor Camp during Texas’ convict labor leasing program in the late 19th century.
Construction on the $59 million James Reese Center eventually hit its target completion date ahead of the 2019-2020 school year. But the discovery of the remains—94 men and one woman—unearthed a slice of Sugar Land’s history that ignited conversations about how best to memorialize these people and educate the public on the convict labor leasing program, according to officials from Fort Bend ISD, which owns the land where the bodies were uncovered.
Supply chain remains challenge for local businesses
It has been two years since the COVID-19 pandemic started in the Houston area, and business owners in the Sugar Land and Missouri City area said they continue to feel the effects on supply chains, inflation and labor shortages.
February survey data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas revealed 64.7% of Texas business owners experienced supply chain disruptions or delays in February with 26.9% reporting that they do not expect the supply chain to go back to normal until more than a year has passed.
June
Medicaid expiration could put enrollees at risk
When the coronavirus pandemic emerged in March 2020, the U.S. government issued a requirement that states could no longer kick people off Medicaid during the public health emergency. The purpose was to prevent people on Medicaid—a government-run health care policy—from being left without insurance on short notice.
That requirement is still in place two years later, but health care advocates in Texas and Houston said they are worried about what could happen when it ends and millions of people have their safety nets put into jeopardy. The Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, estimated as many as 1.3 million Texans could be deemed ineligible for Medicaid once the public health emergency ends. Roughly 3.7 million of the 5.2 million Texans enrolled in Medicaid will have their eligibility redetermined once the emergency ends, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. About 75.9% of Texas Medicaid enrollees are children, according to the HHSC.
Fort Bend ISD looks to solve short-and long-term financial woes
Fort Bend ISD is facing a $49 million shortfall as its board of trustees will soon approve the fiscal year 2022-23 budget, scheduled for June.
In comparison, FBISD has faced at least a $19 million deficit over the last two years, both in FY 2021-22 and FY 2020-21—the first significant deficit it has faced in 13 years.
July: Sugar Land-Missouri City real estate market still strong despite low inventory, rising interest rates
Real estate experts described the 2021 real estate market in Sugar Land and Missouri City as a frenzied, brisk and unprecedented seller’s market.
In 2022, those conditions have slowed, but not yet abated, experts said.
The market has grown more expensive in Sugar Land and Missouri City with a 19.54% year-over-year increase in the price of single-family homes in Fort Bend County in April, according to data from Texas A&M University’s Texas Real Estate Research Center.
August
Fort Bend ISD prioritizes school safety via bonds, state funding
Lawmakers and Fort Bend ISD officials are assessing the best route to effectively protect students in the wake of Texas’ deadliest school shooting.
On May 24, 19 students and two teachers were killed—along with 17 others who were wounded—at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, marking the third-deadliest school shooting in the United States and the deadliest in Texas over the last ve years, according to Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that hosts a platform focusing on gun violence statistics across the country.
Local food banks struggle to meet growing demand amid supply chain issues, inflation
More than two years after the coronavirus pandemic first hit the Greater Houston area in March 2020, food banks are still struggling to meet the growing demand for their services as volunteers are slow to return and donations become scarce.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, 10.9% of residents in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metro area reported being food scarce at the start of the pandemic between April 23-May 5, 2020. Between Oct. 28-Nov. 9, 2020, local food scarcity peaked at 21.4% and has since fluctuated, dropping to 14.2% between June 1 through June 13.
September: Fort Bend ISD moves forward with tax rate election, delays $1.18B bond
Fort Bend ISD administrators have opted to delay the district’s largest bond ever as it instead will focus efforts on getting a voter-approval tax rate election, or VATRE, approved in the upcoming Nov. 8 general election.
During FBISD’s Aug. 15 meeting, district officials announced their intent to delay the $1.18 billion bond until May 2023, and the board of trustees formally approved the VATRE when it called the tax rate election during its Aug. 22 meeting.
October: Officials plan for long-term benefits of Fort Bend County EpiCenter
Upon opening in summer 2023, the Fort Bend County EpiCenter will sit on 52 acres in Rosenberg, attracting visitors to the area for events from surrounding counties, officials said.
Located in the heart of Fort Bend County along Hwy. 59 and Hwy. 36, County Judge KP George said he anticipates the EpiCenter will bring millions to the county over the next decade in the form of venue rentals, hotel stays, naming rights and a draw to new businesses in the surrounding area.
November: Development of Imperial historic char house, district remains stalled after years of planning
There has yet to be any recent progress on the site of the former Imperial Market mixed-use development project, which shuttered four years ago on Oct. 2, 2018, when a new entity took over ownership.
The Imperial Market mixed-use project was announced in 2015 with plans including a cinema, a hotel, and retail and office space on the approximately 27-acre property off of Kempner Street. But it never materialized as developers for the project canceled their plans due to a lack of funding, city of Sugar Land officials said.
December
City of Sugar Land wraps up 2019 bond-funded drainage projects
After 200 Sugar Land houses flooded during Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, drainage emerged as a top priority for the city, city officials said.
Sugar Land voters approved a $90.76 million general obligation bond in November 2019, which included $47.6 million for drainage under Proposition A. Three years later, following a pandemic and rising construction costs, the city has checked four of 10 projects off the list.
Community colleges await possible state funding changes from newly made Texas Commission on Community College Finance
Community colleges across the state, including the Houston Community College System, may see a change in how they receive state funding in the coming years.
Going into the 88th Texas legislative session in 2023, the state may shift from focusing on enrollment to student outcomes in determining funding for colleges.
