The Amarillo City Commission is traveling to Sugar Land this week to get ideas for Amarillo’s downtown revitalization project.
The commission has partnered with several developers, including previous Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, who worked to improve the downtown areas of both Sugar Land and Waco. Sugar Land is one of the fastest-growing of Texas’ 45 largest cities, with a current population of almost 79,000.
Amarillo City Commissioner Ellen Robertson-Green said people are interested in what’s going to happen in downtown Amarillo and that Sugar Land is a great place to go for inspiration on building projects.
“That’s why we’re going to Sugar Land right now,” she said. “To kind of see what that looks like there and understand what Dave Wallace and the other developers are talking about when they say it’s very important that businesses and residential and eating establishments are all working together to create this kind of synergy in an active downtown.”
Almost 35,000 people are projected to move to Amarillo within the next 10 years, and Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole said these people as well as those just passing through will also be effected by the developments.
“Right now,” he said, “60 percent of our sales tax revenue comes from people outside Amarillo who come here and want to spend money since we’re a regional center for this area.”
According to Harpole, the revitalization plans include a multi-purpose sports event center, a hotel and parking garages for both.
Green said changes will start to take place within the next three weeks.
