Fulshear City Council members sat down Tuesday night to weigh a sprawling development proposal that could bring the fast-growing suburb its first hotel, a sports complex and a cluster of new shops and restaurants near FM 1093 and FM 359. The conceptual plan, known as Fulshear Town Square, is still in early stages, with financing unresolved and a draft memorandum of understanding under discussion; construction is not guaranteed.
Mayor Don McCoy said the proposal could transform an open field off FM 1093 and FM 359 into a hub combining a hotel, sports facility and retail, according to ABC13 Houston. Renderings from Johnson Design Group show plans for the city's first hotel alongside a sports complex, fitness center, medical offices, grocery stores and more, the station reports. The concept also includes ideas for residential space dubbed Fulshear Luxury Lofts.
McCoy has pegged the project's cost at around $250 million, per ABC13's reporting. But separate financing documents reviewed by a local newsletter, Fulshear Town Square Has Changed, put the Town Square project's total cost at approximately $384.1 million, plus another $129.2 million for a separate Village apartment development — a notably larger figure than the mayor's public estimate. The two numbers have not been reconciled, and it is unclear which reflects the current, operative figure for the project under discussion.
A Shifting Blueprint
The physical scope of the project has also been described differently across documents. An October architectural presentation cited in that same newsletter lists a 136,195-square-foot sports complex, a 40,517-square-foot convention center and a 171-room hotel. That marks a change from an earlier version of the plan described back in March, which called for roughly 479,000 square feet of mixed-use development, including a 76,000-square-foot indoor sportsplex, a 46,000-square-foot conference center and a 180-room hotel, according to the newsletter's earlier coverage of the proposal.
Separately, Covering Katy has reported the project would sit on 18.8 acres at the southeast corner of FM 1093 and Main Street/FM 359, with plans for approximately 480,000 square feet of development organized around a pedestrian-oriented plaza, per CoveringKaty.com. That outlet has described the concept as a Market Street-style mixed-use destination similar to developments seen in The Woodlands. As of mid-May, no formal site plans, plats or zoning applications had been filed with the city, the outlet noted.
Who's Behind the Deal
A draft memorandum of understanding tied to the project names 1093 FTS LLC as the developer, with Joe Veytia listed as manager in an unsigned signature block, according to the newsletter's reporting. City staff recommended that council discuss the broader concepts at Tuesday's meeting without yet approving that memorandum, the same report states. Myneighborhoodnews.com has similarly reported that approval of the memorandum would establish a framework for the parties to move forward but would not necessarily mean construction is ready to begin, a distinction worth noting given how early-stage the plan remains.
Council members were also set to discuss possible financing through a tax increment reinvestment zone or a municipal management district, per ABC13. McCoy said that if discussions advance, the next step would be drafting a memorandum of understanding for the potential project. He added the proposal landed on the council's agenda because of the city's rapid growth, and said Fulshear is one of the fastest-growing cities in America — a claim backed by U.S. Census Bureau population estimates showing Fulshear as the second-fastest-growing city in the country from mid-2024 to mid-2025, as reported by Houston Public Media.
Sports Tourism and Small-Business Hopes
McCoy framed part of the appeal around youth sports, saying local children enjoy sports and that the town could attract volleyball and basketball tournaments. He described the development's potential to combine a convention center with a hotel where visitors could stay, shop and eat all within walking distance, according to ABC13's account.
Fulshear, located in Fort Bend County, has seen its character shift dramatically in recent years. Manuel Atenco, who has served customers at La Balance Cafe Mexicana in Fulshear for nine years, said the area has changed from ranches with few people to a place with far more homes and residents. He told the station that people moving in from the West Coast and East Coast are buying homes in the area, and that the proposed project would bring more money to the city while benefiting his business directly.
Comparable projects elsewhere illustrate both the promise and the financial complexity of these hotel-and-sports-complex bets. In Bryan, Texas, hotel occupancy tax collections rose 19.4% in 2024 to reach $2.9 million, even as the city's Legends sports facility posted a preliminary fourth-quarter report showing about $1.954 million in revenue against $2.650 million in facility expenditures, per the newsletter's reporting. Round Rock's sports center, by contrast, opened in 2014 with a reported building cost of $14.5 million, funded primarily through hotel occupancy taxes — a far smaller price tag than either figure currently attached to Fulshear's plan. A similar mixed-use push tied to Toyota Stadium in Frisco has also been described as pairing a boutique hotel, restaurants and a convention center, according to Hotel News Resource.
What exactly council members decided Tuesday night, and whether the project's financing, scope or price tag will be settled in the weeks ahead, remains to be seen. For now, Fulshear Town Square sits where it has for months: a concept on paper, backed by renderings and competing numbers, with the harder questions about zoning, financing and construction timelines still unresolved.
