City of Missouri City, TX – Economic Development Strategic Plan

Challenge

Missouri City’s location in the Houston metropolitan area, along with years of careful planning, positioned the community to capture regional economic and population growth. Tremendous growth in the city’s residential areas and strong investment in local business parks pointed to the need for more shovel-ready property across a variety of property types, including flex space, manufacturing, office, and commercial, to balance the city’s land use mix. Despite this success, leaders struggled to take a more aggressive approach to economic development because the City had dedicated its one-cent local option sales tax to Houston METRO transit services, preventing the creation of a sales-tax-funded economic development corporation.

Response

In 2017, the City of Missouri City engaged TIP Strategies to create a plan to guide economic development, redevelopment, and tourism across a five-year planning horizon. The plan was informed by an extensive analysis of the city’s competitive position, which included an assessment of economic and demographic factors, a review of major corridors and developments, and a benchmarking analysis of economic development organizations in peer communities. Based on this work, TIP identified five goals to position Missouri City for new investment and further its transition from bedroom community to employment center. Facilitating development and redevelopment along key corridors, including Texas Parkway, Cartwright Road, FM 1092, and Fort Bend Parkway, was a common theme. The plan also highlighted potential tools and resources to fund the plan’s implementation, including ending the City’s participation in METRO, passing a bond package to raise funds dedicated to economic development, and creating a land banking fund. The potential for aligning the identified opportunities with recovery efforts related to Hurricane Harvey, which caused massive devastation in the region in September 2017, was also considered. Significant outcomes since the plan’s publication in March 2018 include the announcement of a 1.7 million square foot logistics center, CityPark Logistics Center, to be developed near Beltway 8 and US 90.