A developer wants to pour $520 million into downtown Fulshear, building a sports complex, hotel, conference center, restaurants and shops along FM 1093.

Joe Veytia of Town Square Development Advisors laid out the proposal at the Fulshear City Council meeting Tuesday, Oct. 20, as first reported by Covering Katy. Council took no action. Mayor Don McCoy said members were reviewing the concept, not approving a development agreement.

The project, called Fulshear Town Square, would sit near Fulshear Trace adjacent to a planned H-E-B store. It would include a 45,000-square-foot conference center operated by Norris Conference Centers, retail shops, medical offices and a public market. The sports complex would host youth athletic competitions with an emphasis on girls' and women's sports.

Fulshear has no hotel.

The development would create the city's first one and generate hotel occupancy tax revenue the city does not collect.

How the developer proposes to pay for it

Veytia told council the two properties involved generate less than $5,000 a year in city property taxes. Under his plan, that figure would rise to roughly $500,000.

"We're not here to raise anybody's property taxes on anyone else's property except our own," Veytia told council.

The financing hinges on Fulshear's existing municipal management district (MMD). Veytia proposed adjusting the district's boundaries to include the development sites and imposing a special property tax of up to $1.41 per $100 of taxable value on those properties. He said the tax would repay infrastructure improvements over as long as 30 years, after which the city would receive the full property tax revenue.

The proposal also calls for a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) and an economic development agreement that could direct future property, sales and hotel occupancy tax revenue toward eligible improvements. Those financial and legal terms have not been approved. The agreements would still involve public tax revenue that could otherwise fund other city purposes.

Resident pushback and unanswered questions

Veytia also presented a companion project called Fulshear Village Luxury Lofts, an apartment and retail development planned for FM 359 between Wallis Street and Main Street. He wants both projects included in the same financing arrangement.

Council members raised questions about traffic, drainage and whether the facilities would draw enough demand. McCoy said more work was needed before council could consider an agreement.

Fulshear resident Bill Clifford urged council during public comments to pursue a broader downtown plan rather than evaluate individual proposals without a coordinated vision. He said the proposed agreement appeared to benefit the property owner at the expense of residents.

Fulshear is the second-fastest-growing U.S. city among those with at least 20,000 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates reported by Spectrum News. No construction schedule has been set.