The Woodlands Edition | February 2025

BY ANGELA BONILLA, VANESSA HOLT & JESSICA SHORTEN

Zooming out

Looking ahead

Local sales tax revenue from travel spending Local visitor tax: $2.4M Local resident tax: $114.1K

The growth in business development in the area comes alongside several projects planned to address increased trac in Shenandoah on either side of Metropark Square. David Memorial Drive—which runs behind Metropark Square—is being extended to Hwy. 242 to reduce the demand on I-45 and its feeder road. It is partially complete but is awaiting $2.5 million needed for completion from the city of Conroe, engineer John Bleyl said. Meanwhile, new work to connect I-45 to Hwy. 242 is planned to begin this year to help ease trac concerns in the area, according to information from the Texas Department of Transportation. Shenandoah ocials said they don’t believe the new entertainment options will be aected by these projects or contribute to increasing trac or crime in the area. “Shenandoah’s Police Department has been growing over the past three years to ensure we continue providing excellent service as our city attracts more visitors,” Pollard said.

Although the city’s sales tax revenue has increased steadily since 2019, Mayner said most of those funds are not generated by the city’s residents. According to Travel Texas, a total of 95% of travel-related local sales tax in Shenandoah in 2023 was generated by visitors to the area, rather than residents. “We were much more akin to a beach desti- nation, in the sense that we had a tremendous

SOURCE: TRAVEL TEXASCOMMUNITY IMPACT

amount of people/business coming in from outside our city spending their money in our city and then leaving, and ... the resident portion of that is very small,” Mayner said.

What they’re saying

“All of these businesses, hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, they exist to serve the larger

“We also wanted to be in an area that had other entertainment options. … Competition is good, it brings people around to your business.” LESLIE BRODIN, OWNER, ESCAPOLOGY

population and people coming in from all over.” JOHN MAYNER, DIRECTOR, VISIT SHENANDOAH

242

DAVID MEMORIAL DR.

“The city [of Shenandoah] was so responsive in helping us open

“Historically, our main entertainment venues have been among the top producers for our revenues, … and we expect this trend to continue with these additions.”

METROPARK DR.

the store. They guided us throughout the process.” AFTAB HEMANI, OWNER, CHEEKY MONKEYS

VISION PARK BLVD.

KIRBY CRENWELGE, COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST, SHENANDOAH

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THE WOODLANDS EDITION