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Developers Have Ideas For Imperial Sugar Factory


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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3047139

Feb. 19, 2005, 12:40AM

Developers have ideas for Imperial land

By NANCY SARNOFF and ERIC HANSON

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The sprawling Imperial Sugar refinery, once the center of Sugar Land's economic and social life, is being sold to developers who hope to return it to that status with a project mixing condominiums, single-family homes and retail space.

On Friday, Imperial Sugar announced that it reached a preliminary agreement with a partnership of Cherokee Investment Partners and W.C. Perry Land Development to buy the 160-acre Fort Bend County property.

"We'll be turning a blight on the community into something more viable and preserving the historic nature of the sight," said W.C. Perry's Will Perry, the son of well-known residential developer Bob Perry of Perry Homes. The elder Perry is not involved.

Ultimately, this proposed development could include much more than the old sugar refinery. Perry said the groups will try to acquire a 550-acre tract of state-owned land northwest of the property and redevelop the entire parcel.

The prospect of redevelopment is a relief to area residents who have been concerned about living next door to an empty and decaying industrial complex.

"I think, for the most part, most people are very excited to know there will be something there instead of a vacant factory with a lot of buildings that need to be demolished. It's looking pretty tacky right now," said Kristin Lytle, who founded the Friends of Old Sugar Land.

Perry sees the central feature in the proposed development as something similar to San Antonio's River Walk or The Woodlands Waterway. Oyster Creek runs through the property.

Plans are still very preliminary, however, as the group hasn't yet struck a deal with the state on the additional acreage or closed on the Imperial Sugar property.

The developers won't discuss the terms or additional details about the proposed project until it is further along. Their deal to buy the Imperial Sugar property could close by year-end, but they must complete a detailed review.

Other groups have looked at the sugar refinery site, but it goes back to the early 1900s, and Cherokee's experience in redeveloping old industrial plants helped get the attention of Imperial Sugar executives.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based real estate firm buys contaminated properties like old manufacturing and refining sites, cleans up any environmental damage and sells or develops them in partnerships. In 2003, Cherokee closed a $620 million fund

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Actually, the proposed Commuter line to Richmond will run near this, so, in the future, it will work out. If anything, they COULD try something The Woodlands is doing- local trolleys or something, to allow people to go to/from Town Square to Town Center, lake Point, Sugar Factory, etc.

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Does Sugarland have plans for light rail? I know they could benefit from commuter rail to Houston. They ought to install an electric trolley line like what New Orleans has. That thing rocks.

Check out the Sugar Land Chamber of Commerce website.

I think you will be pleased with the goings-on in the next few years.

This may be a rumor..........BUT.............i heard that the investors who had been backing a monorail type train for the Golden Triangle (Houston, Dallas and SA) had come very short of the projected $12 B needed for the project.

BUT...... I guess they have given Houston's light rail project a nod............they seem to have $4 B raised............... any news about that.

AND yes, it would be nice to run the light rail to the Galleria, then through Sharpstown.........all the way to Sugar Land.

m.

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The proposed commuter line is part of Metro suburban outreach lines. One of the lines proposed will go from the South Fannin station where the southern terminus of the currently light rail ends. The commuter line will run from there to Missouri City, Stafford, and Sugarland. It can potentially run to Richmond and Rosenberg.

Please note that this will not be a light rail line. It will not have lots of stops. It will be a heavy rail line that will probably use existing rail in some parts maybe all. The line will have stations that will essentially be large park and ride lots. Peopl in the suburbs drive there cars to the park and ride lots and take the train into town. The is very similar to Chicago, Boston, and New York commuter trains. Southeaster Florida and Los Angeles have these too.

The trains are generally much longer than light rail and travel faster.

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Another proposed line will follow along the Hempstead highway rail corridor to the northwest suburbs. The inner city terminus would be the Northwest Transist Center. From here people can take light rail into Uptown and Downtown.

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  • 1 year later...

I just passed by that sugar mill a few days ago, and saw no kind of development starting up. Not even a sign or rendering. It's been over a year since that Chronicle article came about with the development announcement. Is that common in Houston? I thought only Pavillions would take a while to start up.

I'm asking because in Korea, when a big development was announced like the Sugarland one, it would only be announced within 2 weeks before groundbreaking and construction began, and the mixed-use skyscrapers would be complete usually within 18 months after it was announced to the public. I would have expected at least a ground-breaking by now. Why do these developments take so long to begin construction up here?

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I think part of it is just that there's a different system here. I've noticed that in Asian countries:

1 - A developer will buy a plot of land

2 - Developer announces a project

3 - Developer builds project

4 - People see it is good and move in

Here the pattern seems to be

1 - A developer will buy a plot of land

2 - Developer announces a project

3 - Developer hopes the hype from the announcement is enough to secure financing

4 - Developer starts pre-leasing space in the project

5 - Once a certain percentage of spaces are pre-leased, developer will begin building the project

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I think part of it is just that there's a different system here. I've noticed that in Asian countries:

1 - A developer will buy a plot of land

2 - Developer announces a project

3 - Developer builds project

4 - People see it is good and move in

Here the pattern seems to be

1 - A developer will buy a plot of land

2 - Developer announces a project

3 - Developer hopes the hype from the announcement is enough to secure financing

4 - Developer starts pre-leasing space in the project

5 - Once a certain percentage of spaces are pre-leased, developer will begin building the project

In Houston, do building codes and permits come into play before or after construction has began on a project that size?

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  • 1 month later...

I think the issue is that there were a lot of delays in working with the GLO to purchase tract 3. That was a conditions of development - that it would only work if they could get the big chunk of land next door. I just saw in the paper a month or so ago that they did get the land. Supposedly it was the biggest purchase in the history of the GLO. One of the local piece of crap Ft Bend newspapers was trying to get details of the sale under an open records request but they were denied.

I bet we'll see something start soon if tract 3 is secured.

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This is a very exciting project.

http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/sugarland/imper...tion_050506.pdf

There is a rendering of the potentially redeveloped Imperial site on page 15 of the .pdf.

Cherokee has made a great pitch to the communty and is pushing ahead fast.

As far as the Imperial Site, they plan to preserve some of the structures (probably 4 structures but i am unsure of exactly which ones), create a mixed use core of residential, office, and retail, and integreate the community with the site through trails and new corridors. They also plan to create an urban feel around the Imperial site and Oysted Creek with townhomes and at least one midrise development. Preservation of the site again is a high priority.

One problem facing the redevelopment plan is the railroad ROW that runs through the site. Some thought that it was purchased with the rest of the Imperial land, but Union Pacific is now saying that they own and always have owned the right of way.

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This is a very exciting project.

http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/sugarland/imper...tion_050506.pdf

There is a rendering of the potentially redeveloped Imperial site on page 15 of the .pdf.

Cherokee has made a great pitch to the communty and is pushing ahead fast.

As far as the Imperial Site, they plan to preserve some of the structures (probably 4 structures but i am unsure of exactly which ones), create a mixed use core of residential, office, and retail, and integreate the community with the site through trails and new corridors. They also plan to create an urban feel around the Imperial site and Oysted Creek with townhomes and at least one midrise development. Preservation of the site again is a high priority.

One problem facing the redevelopment plan is the railroad ROW that runs through the site. Some thought that it was purchased with the rest of the Imperial land, but Union Pacific is now saying that they own and always have owned the right of way.

I know 2 of the structures are the "char house" which is the big building that's the main landmark, and the water tower. They're the only 2 I had heard about them preserving, but I guess maybe there are 2 more.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 9 months later...
wow - SL continues to develop at a remarkable pace. The companies moving to the area is also a positive sign - the future seems bright and it will soon no longer be a suburb alone but a sister city.

Not really. Sugar Land propper is only so large and all but a few infill tracts have already been developed or are being developed. Once this and Telfair are built out, there's just not all that much room for Sugar Land to grow, except up...but for the most part, I'd think that Richmond/Rosenberg/Pleak will just become the next in line.

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Not really. Sugar Land propper is only so large and all but a few infill tracts have already been developed or are being developed. Once this and Telfair are built out, there's just not all that much room for Sugar Land to grow, except up...but for the most part, I'd think that Richmond/Rosenberg/Pleak will just become the next in line.

There's plenty of unincorporated land to the north & west that SL has their eye on. So they still have the potential to grow "out" as well.

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There's plenty of unincorporated land to the north & west that SL has their eye on. So they still have the potential to grow "out" as well.

To the north is the City of Houston and its ETJ. They can go west, but at some point, they and Richmond will come up against each other, and that area is really ramping up anyway, especially with Aliana now under development. In the long term (if they decide to go with large-scale annexation) they'll be hemmed in...except to the south, across the Brazos River and down toward Thompsons.

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I'm talking about the area south of Airport Drive and west of SH 6. Neighborhoods like Village of Oak Lake, Pheasant Creek, Summerfield, Orchard Lakes, Chelsea Harbor, New Territory, Riverpark, & Greatwood. Those are all in the Sugar Land ETJ.

I really doubt Sugar Land wants any of the crap north of Airport anyway, with exception to Aliana. Neighborhoods like Woodbridge and Kingsbridge will be forever associated with and lost to neighborhoods like Mission Bend, Towne West, and Eaglewood Hell, I know FBISD would gladly give away our corner of the ISD to ANYONE willing to take the future inter-racial quagmire off their hands.

I'd be curious to see what Richmond & Rosenberg's plans are. I known that at FM1464 & FM1093 I have a Richmond address, even though I'm a good 20 minutes away from the city limits.

Edited by Jeebus
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I'm talking about the area south of Airport Drive and west of SH 6. Neighborhoods like Village of Oak Lake, Pheasant Creek, Summerfield, Orchard Lakes, Chelsea Harbor, New Territory, Riverpark, & Greatwood. Those are all in the Sugar Land ETJ.

I really doubt Sugar Land wants any of the crap north of Airport anyway, with exception to Aliana. Neighborhoods like Woodbridge and Kingsbridge will be forever associated with and lost to neighborhoods like Mission Bend, Towne West, and Eaglewood Hell, I know FBISD would gladly give away our corner of the ISD to ANYONE willing to take the future inter-racial quagmire off their hands.

I'd be curious to see what Richmond & Rosenberg's plans are. I known that at FM1464 & FM1093 I have a Richmond address, even though I'm a good 20 minutes away from the city limits.

Yep, and those neighborhoods that you mentioned (Village of Oak Lake, Pheasant Creek, Summerfield, Orchard Lakes, Chelsea Harbor, New Territory, Riverpark, & Greatwood) are rapidly filling in that area. But they aren't very high density, and the land area that we're talking about is large, but it isn't really all that enormous. Right now, Pasadena is Houston's second city (2005 pop. = 143,852). Sugar Land is a little more than half that, at 75,754. I don't see sweeping demographic change in Sugar Land's forseeable future, major annexations (even where possible) are highly questionable, and apartment development isn't quite that rapid. So that's that. Honestly, I forsee a situation in which League City (2005 pop. = 61,490) comes from behind and tops Sugar Land for population. They've got plenty of land west of I-45 that's still vacant and for which many plans are in the works. Once the Grand Parkway is run through there, and especially if HCTRA is able to build a tollway from Spur 5 to Alvin, League City's fate is sealed. They're it. In the very long term, they may be able to overtake Pasadena. ...but in the very long term, lots of things are possible.

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