A SMART MOVE

BY PATTI PARISH-KAMINSKI

WHEN CONTEMPLATING MAKING A MOVE TO FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS, THE ANSWER TO THE “WHY” CAN EASILY BE SUMMED UP IN ONE WORD: OPPORTUNITY. WITH NEARLY 900,000 PEOPLE CHOOSING FORT BEND AS HOME, OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND FOR BUSINESSES, YOUNG FAMILIES, A QUALIFIED WORK FORCE AND THOSE WANTING AN EXCEPTIONAL LIFESTYLE. NOW MORE THAN EVER, MORE PEOPLE ARE FINDING FORT BEND THE PERFECT PLACE TO CALL HOME.

A Land of Opportunity

BUSINESS IN THE BEND

Fort Bend attracts a talented, well-educated workforce with just over 46 percent of the adult population obtaining a Bachelor’s degree or higher. The average resident is age 35.6, and over 73 percent of the workforce is white collar, which equals opportunity for both residents and businesses.

Home to a diverse and growing commercial sector, businesses are attracted to Fort Bend because of the talented labor pool, but the attraction doesn’t end there. A strategic location for national and international distribution, proximity to the Greater Houston area and the exceptional quality of life combined with the topnotch workforce means Fort Bend is abundant with opportunity. Fortune 500 companies, mid-size technology companies, innovative start-ups and worldwide corporations, including Fluor, Frito Lay, Fed Ex, Accredo Packaging, Schlumberger, UPS, Amazon and Texas Instruments, have found Fort Bend to be a smart business decision.

ACCESSIBLE, EXCELLENCE IN HEALTHCARE

This climate makes Fort Bend attractive to multiple industries from major hospital systems to technology driven organizations finding both solutions and opportunities for growing industries. Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital has realized first-hand Fort Bend’s growth with their Sugar Land campus. In 1998, the hospital began with 22 beds and 160 employees. Today, Houston Methodist Sugar Land is one of the largest employers in Fort Bend, with nearly 2,400 employees and over 1,000 specialty trained physicians and 347 beds, with plans to add another 100 beds. The campus is constantly growing providing state-of-the-art healthcare close to home with comprehensive centers of excellence, including cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, orthopedics, urology and women’s services.

“The most important thing we have been able to accomplish in Fort Bend is dramatically increase our capabilities in the core medical specialties that the community needs most,” said Chris Siebenaler, CEO and Regional Senior Vice President of Houston Methodist Sugar Land. “Today, patients in Fort Bend do not need to travel for complex, specialized care. It’s available right here because we have the physicians, staff, facilities and technology to treat even the most serious cases.”

Healthcare growth in Fort Bend includes more than expansive hospital systems. It also includes specialized institutes for the ever-growing population, including families with active lifestyles. Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, home to a 179 bed, full-service acute care facility, is known for its elite sports medicine care. Memorial Hermann recently opened the Memorial Hermann | Rockets Sports Medicine Institute-Sugar Land, a 15,000 square foot facility offering a comprehensive range of sport-specific care for athletes of all ages.

Memorial Hermann Sugar Land recently announced a $231 million dollar expansion of their campus to add new medical/surgical beds and a new neonatal intensive care unit, as well as emergency department rooms, operating rooms, endoscopy suites, key ancillary areas and parking capacity. “With the growth of Memorial Hermann Sugar Land, we continue to seek to positively impact our Fort Bend County community beyond our walls,” said Malisha Patel, SVP and CEO of Memorial Hermann Sugar Land and Southwest Hospitals.

“We are excited about the job creation that will accompany this project and the overall economic impact that this will bring to our community. We recognize that we cannot realize our vision of creating healthier communities without investing in neighborhoods all across our region.”

Dedicated to helping patients recover from acute illnesses and injuries, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Sugar Land provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care treating patients recovering from a variety of conditions, including amputation, brain injury, stroke, neurological disorders and respiratory failure. And the choice to bring this state-of-the-art rehab hospital to Fort Bend was an easy one.

“PAM Health chose Sugar Land as a site to add one of our specialized hospitals for inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation due the fact that Sugar Land is recognized nationally as one of the fastest growing and most desired areas for new residents and business developments,” said Christy Medlin, Market Director of Strategy and Integration for PAM Health Corporate. “With more than 800,000 residents, Fort Bend is the 10th most populous county in Texas. We are excited to add to this great medical community.”

With the growth of Memorial Hermann Sugar Land, we continue to seek to positively impact our Fort Bend County community beyond our walls.

—Malisha Patel, SVP and CEO of Memorial Hermann Sugar Land and Southwest Hospitals

CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY

Technology-driven companies have also found Fort Bend ripe for development and growth. Velocity Technology Associates, a company that uses technology and innovation as a platform to build innovative, impactful business-to-business and business-to-consumer solutions, has found Sugar Land to be the perfect community for their business home.

Founder and CEO Ben Williams said, “Fort Bend is a great place for our home base, because it is ripe with talented resources, has the backing of educational institutions like the University of Houston that are producing young talented professionals, is a great place to live, has a diverse community interested in innovation, as well as supported by the Chamber of Commerce. It is the perfect place for our business because we can find everything we need right here.”

Experts in the field of construction software, Fort Bend-based company Heavy Construction Systems Specialists, or HCSS, has been located on its 12-acre Sugar Land campus since 2008, and the future is brighter than ever for this software pioneer. In the fourth quarter of 2021, HCSS was acquired by a private equity firm, Thoma Bravo, and with this acquisition, the rapidly growing company is expected to grow its revenue by three to four times and double its 450-employee headcount in the next five years.

INCLUSIVE, DIVERSE CULTURE

Highlighted as not only one of the fastest growing counties in the United States, Fort Bend has been dubbed “the most diverse county in the nation” by Dr. Stephen Klineberg, founding director of the Kinder Institute at Rice University.

Known for its inclusive culture, people come from around the world to relocate to Fort Bend. In addition to an abundance of employment opportunities, Fort Bend boasts several award-winning master planned communities that attract young families to the county as a desirable area to work, live and raise children in an ethnically diverse atmosphere.

For an abundance of opportunities to live, work and play, Fort Bend is the smart move.

TRANSPORTATION The Skies the Limit

Fort Bend County is easily accessible to William P. Hobby Airport, an international airport that is the only 5-Star Rated Airport in the Skytrax World Airport Star Rating for 2022 in Texas and North America. Most commercial airlines fly in and out of Hobby with worldwide destinations.

Fort Bend also has its own airport, Sugar Land Regional Airport, with on-site U.S. Customs. The airport’s focus is corporate aviation and boasts a 20,000-square-foot corporate aviation terminal and an 8,000-foot-long concrete runway designed to accommodate jets. The airport also serves the community’s needs for air transportation with amenities, including car rental facilities, aircraft repair and avionics sales, flight school, an executive lounge and a crew suite.