Sugar Land considers Smart Centre project as the next big thing
SUGAR LAND — Children splashed happily in a fountain while their parents lined up at a food truck or sprawled on the lawn.
The public plaza at the Smart Financial Centre, the hot new entertainment venue in this fast-growing suburb, buzzed with activity during its grand opening festivities May 1.
The plaza was deserted, however, when I stopped by Sunday afternoon. No one sat at the tables positioned beneath the newly planted trees. No food trucks were in sight. The fountain gushed to life when I pressed a button, but the cool geysers seemed pointless with no kids there to enjoy them.
These contrasting scenes reflect the challenges and the opportunities facing Sugar Land leaders as they seek to transform this site and its surroundings into a “destination center” on par with the highly successful Sugar Land Town Square. Such projects are a key element of the city’s efforts to improve residents’ quality of life and attract tourists — and to boost its bottom line.
“Not only is that a fun, exciting thing for us, it’s a big part of our long-term financial strategy to broaden our economic base and keep our property taxes low,” said Jennifer May, the city’s executive director of business and governmental affairs.
Elected officials, planners and scholars increasingly are focusing on the importance of vibrant public spaces — parks, plazas, outdoor theaters and more — as they re-examine traditional models of suburban growth. The new Sugar Land project is consistent with that thinking.
But in their effort to repeat the success of the town square project, which started development in 2003, Sugar Land leaders might be challenged by the absence of any new residential development associated with the Smart Centre project. A developer originally included 900 apartments in a planned mixeduse development nearby, but the apartments were stripped from the project after objections from residents concerned that renters would increase traffic, crowd schools and damage their suburban lifestyle.
On a given day, many of the people hanging out around the fountain at Sugar Land Town Square are there because they patronized one of the shops or dined in one of the restaurants. But the project also includes 167 condominiums. For these residents, the square is their backyard.
The Smart Centre project won’t have any condos, but it will have thousands of people coming to work every day in the additional developments planned on the vacant land surrounding it. The plans include a new facility for the Fluor engineering and construction firm, office space for lease, a possible hotelconference center, and other amenities. Texas Instruments’ Sugar Land offices are in place near the Smart Centre.
Not insurmountable
Planners expect employees of these companies to use the plaza regularly, along with concertgoers and Sugar Land residents looking for a place for their kids to cool off on a hot summer day.
Plans for the site are being developed, but designers will ensure that the various workplaces have convenient pedestrian connections to the Smart Centre and the plaza, May said.
In addition, the site will be included in the city’s extensive network of hike-and-bike trails under development, city spokesman Doug Adolph said.
The lack of a residential component in the Smart Centre project will make its success more challenging, but it’s not an insurmountable hurdle, said Kyle Shelton, a program manager and fellow at Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research who authored a recent report on strategies for sustainable suburban growth.
“The question is, how are you going to draw people there for the big chunks of the day that you want them to be there?” Shelton said. “Just doing it for a concert isn’t going to be enough, I would say.”
Breaking the mold
Shelton applauded the strategy that seeks to build on the success of projects like Sugar Land Town Square — a departure from the conventional suburban model of large developments of single-family houses separated from retail and entertainment centers.
Sugar Land’s leaders seem intent on breaking that mold.
But the opposition that scuttled plans for apartments near the Smart Centre shows that public attitudes are not always in sync with these goals. In this case, the city and the developers might have to do it the hard way.