Sugar Land site now planned

Cherokee Investment Partners LLC, a Raleigh, N.C.-based private equity firm specializing in brownfield cleanup and sustainable redevelopment, highlights redevelopment of the former Imperial Sugar refinery property in its annual Sustainability Report (www.cherokeefund.com).
The main activity now is environmental remediation — primarily asbestos removal — which will likely last through the remainder of the year, according to Tom Darden, CEO of Cherokee.
“Sustainability is our business,” he says. “For more than two decades, Cherokee has used private equity, coupled with creativity and expertise, to purchase, clean up and reuse property.”
Cherokee bought the 150-year-old plant site, which closed in 2003, and adjoining property in July 2007 from Imperial Sugar and the Texas General Land Office in a transaction that won a 2008 Landmark Award for the firm. After the acquisition, Cherokee teamed with Southern Land Co. to redevelop the 720-acre site, which is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Main Street in Sugar Land.
Before finalizing plans, however, Cherokee and Southern Land brought together planners, municipal staff and neighborhood residents in a five-day public land planning charrette led by Duany Plater-Zyberk, a national planning firm.
Cherokee and Southern Land have submitted civil engineering and design specifications for 90 single-family residential lots for the City of Sugar Land’s review and approval.
“The concepts for commercial, residential and retail spaces are very exciting, and we are anxious to begin rolling out images and ideas in the coming months,” says Tim Downey, CEO of Southern Land Co. “We’ve made good progress in a short period of time, and we credit the City of Sugar Land for helping facilitate what is a very technical and complex planning process.”
Through a contract with the Fort Bend County Museum Association, Imperial Sugar artifacts, photographs and documents will be preserved in an on-site Sugar Land Heritage Museum, the report says.
A community entrance, road and the Oyster Creek bridge crossing will be built to connect the community to area highways and the Sugar Land Airport.
“The project team is in the process of refining the master plan to integrate the various land uses on property, including office and commercial space and the reuse of the refinery site into shops and multifamily housing. Meetings with the Texas State Historic Commission are also taking place to determine the historic value of all structures located on the Imperial site,” Darden says.

For more information see www.houstonrealtyadvisors.com or www.houstonrealtyadvisors.net or www.edayres.com