Sugar Land’s namesake siloed for mixed-use redevelopment

Sugar Land’s industrial past could become a pretty sweet development.

Puma Development, a boutique Houston real estate firm, wants to repurpose some of Sugar Land’s namesake factory buildings into a walkable mixed-use district.

The Imperial Sugar property’s historic buildings on Kempner Street, near U.S. Highway 90 and State Highway 6, would be reused in the firm’s redevelopment proposal, the Houston Business Journal reported, citing a recent town-hall meeting with residents and the developer.

Houston-based Hunton Group owns about half of the property, including the multistory Imperial char house, a warehouse, and engineering building and the three silos. Cherokee Investments still owns some of the land and has been in the process of selling it off.

A City of Sugar Land-owned building behind the silos houses the Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center.

Preliminary plans for the 40-acre site call for retail, entertainment, restaurants, park space and offices, as well multifamily and single-family homes.

“We have been working for over a year to find the right partner for the Imperial project that will do justice to the history of Imperial and the city of Sugar Land and develop the site to its full potential,” R.O. Hunton of Hunton Group told the outlet.

Previous plans to redevelop the site into a retail center fell through, mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on retail.

Read more

Houston

Dhanani buys 50 acres in Sugar Land from Fluor Corp.

— Victoria Pruitt