Robert C. Brown III has died – Page 2
A World Series champion pitched at Constellation Field last week. Read more on Page 5. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
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Frito-Lay to add jobs, expand Rosenberg plant By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 45 • No. 43
One of Fort Bend County’s biggest employers, FritoLay, will add more than 100 jobs and invest more than $200 million after county commissioners last week signed off on a tax abatement for the company’s facility in Rosenberg. Commissioners approved
Frito-Lay is adding 100-plus jobs in Rosenberg. (Photo by Matt deGrood)
an economic incentive agreement with the company, under which Frito-Lay must complete $200 million in improvements at the plant by Dec. 31, 2023, and must retain a total of 735 employees beginning Jan. 1, 2025 in exchange for 45 percent and 55 percent abatements on their property taxes, according to the agreement documents. Frito-Lay, if it meets the
terms of the agreement, would receive a 55 percent rebate on property taxes starting in the 2024 tax year, according to the agreement. Company officials are expanding the Rosenberg facility in order to add two manufacturing lines for Funyuns and tortilla chips as well as to increase the warehouse
SEE FRITO-LAY PAGE 7
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Missouri City residents push to rename road By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
For years, when friends asked Beau and Rhonda Gilbo where they lived, the Missouri City couple would mumble the answer. The Vicksburg Village of Shiloh neighborhood, where the Gilbos have lived since 2006, stands out both for its pretty, brick homes that often sell for more than $300,000 and also its affinity for the Confederacy. Many of the neighborhood’s streets, including Confederate Drive and Bedford Forrest Court, have long stood as a reminder of
Debra McGaughey (front) explains the importance of remembering the Sugar Land 95 as Cpt. Paul J. Matthews looks on. McGaughey and Matthews are part of a nonprofit group, including Anna Lykoudis-Zafiris, Farha Ahmed, Bruce Lemmie and Robin Cole. They hope to raise money to build a museum at the site. (Photo by Matt deGrood)
Nonprofit raising awareness about Sugar Land 95 By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19 across the country each year, commemorates the anniversary of Union General Gordon Granger’s arrival in Galveston to proclaim that Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had officially outlawed slavery in Texas. That the people of Texas only learned about the proclamation in 1865, some two years after Lincoln first issued it in 1863, is no small part of the story. This Juneteenth, a group of Fort Bend County residents is
MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Beau and Rhonda Gilbo
SEE RENAME PAGE 7
working to spread awareness about another belated piece of history – the Sugar Land 95. “The symbolism of the day is not lost on us,” said Anna Lykoudis-Zafiris, the vice
president of a new nonprofit called the Society of Justice and Equality for the People of Sugar Land. On a 100-degree summer day, several members
organization are working with school district officials as well as officials with Fort Bend County to commemorate the 95 people found at the site, with the goal of raising $20 million to one day build an indoor and outdoor museum near the cemetery, said Robin Cole, the president of the group. The 13th Amendment ended chattel slavery as it was known before the Civil War, but permitted it as punishment for a crime. Experts estimate more than 3,500 prisoners died between the beginning of the Texas convict leasing system in the 1860s and the end
SEE JUNETEENTH PAGE 7
Steady progress continues at The Grid development By Matt deGrood
(Photo by Matt deGrood)
Gravestones like this outside the James Reese Career and Technical Center mark the burial sites of the Sugar Land 95.(Photo by Matt deGrood)
of the group met to discuss their hopes and dreams for the site, near Fort Bend ISD’s new James Reese Career and Technical Center, where the remains of 95 people were discovered in 2018. Historians have said they were African Americans who were part of a state convict-leasing program to farm sugarcane. “There are a lot of people who are not aware of the history,” said Debra McGaughey, secretary of the group. “They’ve relegated these people to convicts. But there’s been a renewal nationally in interest about the civil rights movement. And it’s time for the truth to be told.” Members of the nonprofit
Despite the coronavirus pandemic changing life for many businesses, progress on The Grid development in Stafford continues, with crews expected to break ground on another 350 apartment units before the end of the year, according to developers behind the project. “When it’s finished, it will
be over 1,000 units of some of the nicest, newest units in the whole corridor,” said Adam Schiller, a principal with Dallas-based Edge Realty Partners, the developers behind The Grid. JLB Partners, a Houston-based firm working alongside Schiller’s group, recently finished the second phase of the development’s residential plan and has brought a total of about 725 units to the eastern side of the site, Schiller
said. Officials are busy working to design and build the third phase, which is targeted to break ground before the end of 2021, Schiller said. The Grid, once complete, will be a 192-acre mixeduse development, complete with shops, restaurants, office space, hotels and urban residences, according
SEE GRID PAGE 7
Pictured is a developer rendering of what The Grid might look like once finished. (Contributed photo)
JERRY FLOWERS
Real Estate Agent, MBA, CNE, ABE Army Veteran (RET) • 832-702-5241 Jerry@dreamhomesbyjerry.com
4500 Highway 6, Sugar Land, TX 77478