First Colony

First Colony is a 9700acre master-planned community in Fort Bend County, Texas. The community, with approximately 50,000 residents, encompasses over 9,500 residential houses in 61 neighborhoods located in across southern parts of Sugar Land with few neighborhoods spanning into Missouri City.HistoryFirst Colony was developed by Sugarland Properties Inc.—a joint venture of Gerald D. Hines Interests and Stichting Shell Pension Fund. Hines' Sugarland group began development on First Colony in 1976.When First Colony was under development in 1977, very little development was in the area. Bill Schadewald said that he, as a rookie real estate reporter, received speculation from local sources questioning whether "a project so large and such a distance could succeed."The community was a census-designated place in the 1990 census, with a population of 18,327 in 5,976 housing units with a reported area of 9.3sqmi. At the time, this made First Colony CDP the 108th most populous place in Texas.Sugar Land gradually annexed most of its portion of First Colony within its municipal boundaries during the early to mid 1990s. For instance, the annexation of Municipal Utility District (MUD) 12 in First Colony occurred on December 17, 1991; this included 1064acre, including 2,314 homes, 433 condominiums and 350000sqft of commercial property along Texas Highway 6.The Sugar Land Town Square, a development that began in the 2000s, was developed on one of the few remaining parcels of land in First Colony. In 2011 Schadewald said "Now: I guess it’s safe to say First Colony has been a success."