Sugar Land - Missouri City Edition | January 2022

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ENCOURAGING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT As Missouri City ocials promote revitalization, development moves forward. Fort Bend Town Center II will have retail, restaurants and entertainment, while Phase 3 will consist of mixed commercial use and apartments.

REVAMPING THE CORRIDOR

FONDREN RD.

The Texas Parkway/Cartwright Corridor Development Advisory Committee comprises seven residents with connections to the area. The committee brought forward a $1 million program that reimburses businesses for a portion of the money they spend on exterior improvements.

INDEPENDENCE BLVD.

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Facade Improvement Incentive Program

Redevelopment

New growth

UNIVERSITY BLVD.

Missouri City businesses along Texas Parkway and Cartwright Road can now apply to the city’s Facade Improvement Incentive Program. The program reimburses commercial businesses up to 75% or $200,000 for renovations that improve building exteriors. To qualify, businesses must be located on Texas Parkway between Cartwright Road and Hwy. 90A or on Cartwright Road between Texas Parkway and Dulles Avenue. Painting Updating signage Updating doors & windows Restriping parking lots Adding exterior lighting Landscaping Enhancing patios/decks ELIGIBLE UPGRADES INCLUDE: Additional details and the application are available at www.missouricitytx.gov/1077/ facade-improvement-incentive-program

Fort Bend Town Center Phase 2 broke ground Aug. 5 and will be complete in late 2023.

Construction on Fort Bend Town Center Phase 3 will begin in mid-2022.

RENDERINGS COURTESY NEWQUEST PROPERTIES

2021-22 budget for economic develop- ment and beautication eorts. On Nov. 15, City Council approved $1 million of this funding for the Facade Improvement Incentive Pro- gram, which will reimburse businesses located along Texas Parkway and Cart- wright Road up to 75% or $200,000 for exterior upgrades or renovations. Nettles said the program, the com- mittee’srst big initiative, aims tobeau- tify the area and promote investment. With $500,000 not yet allocated, White said the committee is consider- ing a restaurant program and median beautication projects in the future. Je Wiley, the president of the Fort Bend Economic Development Council, said it is harder to redevelop than to build, and investors avoid hurdles. “There will need to be a sustained eort and vision wherever commit- ments exist to redevelop, a patient citi- zenry and engaged taxing districts that see the long-term benets of investing or establishing incentives for redevel- opment to occur,” Wiley said. Despite challenges, Nettles said res- idents will see the results of revitaliza- tion eorts start materializing in 2022. “In no way will we leave this area behind,” Nettles said. “This area is just as important a part of the community as Hwy. 6 and Fort Bend Toll [Road].” Promoting newgrowth Missouri City is also experiencing growth along Hwy. 6 toward the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road.

“That growth is just really an organic growth that’s happening due to the expansion of population [and] infra- structure,” Nettles said. Two upcoming developments driv- ing growth are Phase 2 and 3 of the Fort Bend Town Center as well as the new Amazon fulllment center, she said. Wiley said these recent devel- opments are good signs for quality growth within the city and will bring new commercial tax centers to support the growing population. “[Fort Bend Town Center] will pro- vide a community focal point now and in the future to those with proximity to Fort Bend Parkway [Toll Road] and Hwy. 6,” Wiley said in an email. Construction on Fort Bend Town Center II broke ground Aug. 5 and is expected to be completed by late 2023, according to a press release fromdevel- oper NewQuest Properties. The devel- opment will be anchored by a 12-screen Cinemark theater with the remaining space featuring retail, restaurants and an entertainment venue. NewQuest Properties also purchased land for Phase 3 of the development, which will include mixed-commercial space and 589 apartments. Construc- tion on Phase 3 will begin in mid-2022, according to a release. Nettles said the development has renewed interest in the area. Likewise, with the Amazon fulllment center’s opening in late 2021, she said there has been a push for multifamily housing to support the workforce.

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and meet those needs, they had to travel outside of Missouri City.” Boney said the lack of amenities drove residents out of the corridor and into neighboring communities or developing areas near Hwy. 6. “[Texas Parkway and Cartwright Road] is a major thoroughfare when you rst come into the city,” White said. “It just didn’t give a very good [look] or benet to the community.” Boney said the city has worked to create an economic development plan focused on attracting strategic indus- tries and growth. However, the citywas without an economic development director for about a year until Nettles was hired—slowing progress. According to Nettles, the city has a responsibility to revitalize aging areas. “When you have a part of the com- munity that essentially had a tremen- dous amount of resources at one time and left, … it is [the city’s] obligation to make sure that you’re ghting to bring those resources back so no part of the community is left behind,” she said. City Council in April appointed seven residents, including White, who have a connection to the area to serve on the Texas Parkway/Cartwright Cor- ridor Development Advisory Commit- tee, which Boney chairs. The city is working with the commit- tee to establish programs to encour- age businesses to come to the corridor using $1.5 million in the scal year

SOURCE: CITY OF MISSOURI CITY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

“We want business growthwhere we canhaveworkforcedevelopment going on where people are actually opening up their headquarters or bringing their businesses toMissouri City to hire local and bring people to Missouri City to live, work and play,” Boney said. White said as Missouri City contin- ues growing, she hopes to restore the some of the vibrancy it had when she moved there. “I want somebody to come to Mis- souri City and say, ‘I’d really like to live there because they [oer] all the needs that society has today and a few of the wants,’” she said.

For more information, visit communityimpact.com .

SUGAR LAND MISSOURI CITY EDITION • JANUARY 2022