WHAT IS AN OPPORTUNITY ZONE?
EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES
The Edison Center
Opportunity zone
W. FUQUA ST.
Opportunity zones are areas identi ed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities through the potential for partnerships and increased funding. Because The Edison Center project lies outside the boundaries of the opportunity zones, the Houston Complete Communities initiative, a neighborhood improvement plan, is using these zones as tools to encourage economic development in the areas surrounding the project.
N
2234
SOURCES: CITY OF HOUSTON COMPLETE COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE, EDISON ARTS FOUNDATION COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
N
Center, co-op/multi-kitchen, demonstration area, and bodega con- cept—will bene t 22 minority busi- ness owners and could produce 238 incubator jobs generating $12.6 mil- lion. These jobs will serve early-stage startups that do not yet have a busi- ness model in place. a The redevelopment is also pro- jected to serve more than 4,600 patients annually through a partner- ship with primary health care clinic Legacy Community Health, which has plans to move into the center in fall 2022. In addition, the Edison Center is estimated to draw 19,800 annual vis- itors to Festival Park, its park space where year-round programming, concerts and farmers markets will be available. This joins the estimated 79,200 annual visitors expected at the redeveloped shopping center, which includes visitors to the development’s Edison Cultural Arts Center and Fes- tival Park green space, according to project documents. The visitors the development is expected to bring are key to not only revitalizing the existing community, but also bringing in new develop- ment, said Gwendolyn Tillotson, the city of Houston’s deputy director for economic development. “When you bring a project like this into an area, it draws other comple- mentary types of development,” Tillotson said. “We’re hoping that this just serves as a sort of catalyst to attract more [of] the same type of investment but some complementary What is now a vacant shopping center was during the late 1970s and 1980s Willowridge Commons: a thriving retail center with big-box brands such as Kroger and Walgreens, Andrews said. Prestage was a tenant in the center when he was rst elected in 1990. investment as well.” Decision to reinvest
“At that time, the Kroger had been gone for a few years,” Prestage said. “So all of the other tenants were start- ing to go away.” E orts to attract local grocers to the site, including HEB when it rst came to the Houston area, were unsuccessful, Prestage said. These were the days prior to the completion of Sam Houston Tollway, when Fuqua Street dead-ended a couple of blocks east of the former shopping center, Prestage said. Thus, HEB could not justify opening a store in a location
neighborhoods in 2019 and the Edison Center project as an early success. So far, the city has invested $5 million in the second phase of the project. Edison Lofts, which opened in June, received $8 million in tax credits from the city of Houston to encourage development, according to the action plan. Meanwhile, the Fort Bend Houston neighborhood has two census tracts that are state-designated opportu- nity zones, which are areas identi ed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural com- munities through partnerships and increased funding. The Edison Center is located across the street, just outside one of those zones, Castex-Tatum said. Though the city of Houston is cur- rently unable to adjust the zones’ boundaries, it is working to provide peripheral economic support to the project from within the zone, Castex- Tatum said. “It’s very preliminary, but we have identi ed that space as a potential good location for a brick-and-mortar grocery store,” she said. Coming up next for the Edison Center project is the opening of its pre-K center, which will o er two classrooms for up to 40 students on the same site as the Edison Lofts property, Carter said. That opening is scheduled for late March, coinciding with the start of the construction for the former shopping center. “If we can make sure that people have the necessities to create a holis- tic community, I think that we will see that our communities continue to thrive,” Castex-Tatum said. “The residents there deserve to have those services near their homes.”
In 2015, the Edison Arts Founda- tion began drafting a master plan for the center and the adjacent property that became Edison Lofts, a 126-unit a ordable housing complex. As the project has pushed forward, other entities such as the Hiram Clarke/Fort Bend Houston Redevelop- ment Authority have helped support the project. Though a TIRZ may only fund pub- lic infrastructure projects, the rede- velopment authority has committed $500,000 in its capital improvement
with such lit- tle tra c, he said. By the time Carter and the Edison Arts Founda t i on d i s c o v e r e d and bought the property in 2020, it had been at least 20 years since the shopping center had received any kind of major development, a c c o r d i n g to project documents. That acqui- sition came amid e orts
program bud- get over a ve- year period to address build- ing degrada- tion at the shopping cen- ter, Andrews said. “From a development point of view ... [the Edi- son Center] is positive because it is bringing new development in the area,” Andrews said. “New devel- opment is s o m e t h i n g that this area
PROJECT PROJECTIONS The Edison Center project consists of two phases: an a ordable housing phase and a mixed-use phase. Here is the breakdown: Edison Lofts: completed June 2021 The Edison Center: late March 2022-fall 2023
79,200 Total visitors annually 238 Incubator jobs $18.8M Investment in redevelopment
SOURCE: EDISON ARTS FOUNDATION COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
from the Edison Arts Foundation to expand from performing arts and education after seeing its families’ economic struggles, Carter said. The foundation had been consid- ering a 3-acre parcel of land for its relocation before the 12.5-acre Wil- lowridge Commons property came to its attention, Carter said. “When this larger space came to our attention, then a larger mind- set had to be put forth,” she said. “A larger impact, a larger-scale plan for sustainability.”
has not seen consistently.” Looking forward
The Edison Arts Foundation has also received nancial support from the city of Houston through its Com- plete Communities initiative. The initiative, started in 2017 by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, seeks to improve neighborhoods through an action plan outlining a vision, policies, goals and projects. The city of Houston identi ed Fort Bend Houston as one of these
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
19
SUGAR LAND MISSOURI CITY EDITION • MARCH 2022
Powered by FlippingBook