By Michael Sudhalter
msudhalter@fortbendstar.com
The Sienna Plantation will double in the next five years, with new residents expected to move into a new area of the development late next year.
Sienna Plantation currently has 6,800 homes, but Sienna South, which is currently under construction, is expected to add 6,500.
The first phase, which is expected to completed in late 2015 or early 2016, will include 500 new homes.
Toll Brothers, a Pennsylvania-based company that’s been honored as the Texas Builder of the Year five times and the National Builder of the Year this year, purchased 3,800 acres of a development called Sienna South. It’s the final portion of Sienna that’s not developed.
They’ve hired Johnson Development of Sugar Land, which developed the existing parts of Sienna, to develop the new area. Toll Brothers has 11 other developments throughout Greater Houston.
Karl Mistry, Toll Brothers Division President for the Houston area, said Sienna South won’t be a separate community, but rather the southern half of the existing Sienna Plantation neighborhood.
“I don’t know that it will be too different,” Mistry said. “We’re carrying on the tradition and plan design that made Sienna successful all these years.”
Mistry said homes that are currently under construction will range from $200,000 to $1 million.
In addition to the homes, there will also be at least 100 acres of retail development (such as a grocery store and restaurants) and office space throughout the new development, said Mistry. The development will also include parks, lakes, pools, basketball courts and more.
“We’re extremely excited about what’s going on in Fort Bend County,” Mistry said. “We’ve selected great partners for this project.”
Toll Brothers has worked close with officials in Missouri City to coordinate infrastructure within the community.
As part of an agreement in 1996, Missouri City has the right to annex land within Sienna Plantation. Currently, commercial areas of Sienna, but not any residential areas, are part of the city.
Missouri City city manager Ed Broussard said annexation is at least five years away and possibly much longer.
When that happens, Sienna residents will receive city services, instead of county services. They currently have an agreement in which the Missouri City Fire Department provides service to Sienna.
“We believe it will be very beneficial to the residents of Sienna once annexation takes place,” said Doug Goff, Johnson Development Company’s Chief Operating Officer.
In addition, Fort Bend ISD owns land where a future 15 acre elementary school and 32 acre middle school are expected to be built within the next decade. Ridge Point High, which opened in 2011, is already located near the new portion of Sienna.
“The school district really drives that, not the developer,” Mistry said. “They tell us their needs and we look at a school location. We work together in finding the right location and the right timing.”
Mistry said the nearby presence of the Fort Bend Tollway makes the existing and new developments attractive to residents who commute to the Medical Center, the Galleria or downtown.