The City of Sugar Land has a long history of pursuing entrepreneurial public/private partnerships, and its most recent project – the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, a performing arts and live entertainment venue – held its first public performance on December 18, 2016, and celebrated a formal grand opening on January 14, 2017, with Jerry Seinfeld. 

Part of an innovative and successful strategy to grow and expand the City’s sales tax base through the development of unique regional destinations, this project was nearly a decade in the making. In 2007, a citizen-led Visioning Task Force identified a performing arts center among its cultural and entertainment venue recommendations. Voters approved the use of special funding tools in a 2008 election – ensuring the $84M, 6,400-seat venue would be constructed without the use of any general property tax dollars.

In 2011, the City began a partnership with ACE SL, LLC, a company formed by entertainment industry veterans and specializing in the design, construction and operation of live-performance theaters across North America. Led by Allen J. Becker, the Tony-award-winning producer who co-founded PACE Entertainment Corporation in 1966, ACE’s executive principals brought more than 175 years combined experience to the project.

Not only will the City receive the benefit of a world-class live entertainment venue, but the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land will help promote capital investment, create new jobs, enhance educational opportunities, increase tourism and create unique destination activities – attracting more than 260,000 local and regional visitors annually and providing an annual economic benefit to the community of more than $26M. Designed for flexibility, the over 200,000-square-foot venue incorporates innovative moveable walls that can expand and contract to create four different seating capacities that range from an intimate setting of 3,400 seats to a maximum of 6,400. Setting a new standard for live performance venues, the Smart Financial Centre is equipped to host a wide array of programming including national music and comedy artists, children and family entertainment, theatrically-staged productions and cultural and performing arts attractions – while also providing a local option for the community to host high school graduations.

Additionally, the venue will be an important anchor in a future mixed-use commercial district. The surrounding area is framed by stellar recreational venues, such as the City’s 400-acre Brazos River Park and the new festival site. Across the street is the University of Houston Sugar Land campus, a Tier One campus of UH with major expansion plans. More specifically, the 80-plus acres immediately surrounding the venue are envisioned to be the home of a new, mixed-use development with office, retail and entertainment, a future hotel/conference center, as well as home to major corporate employers joining Fluor Corporation and Texas Instruments. All of this surrounds a public plaza that was constructed at the same time as the venue and which is planned to be a major focal point and gathering place for residents, visitors and employees, further establishing Sugar Land as one of the strongest economies in the region.

To-date, the venue has been extremely successful, and the purpose of this recognition is to celebrate the success of and the awards received to-date for the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land.