As new office developments pop up along the SunBelt, some cities are rolling out incentive packages to keep businesses from straying to more competitive office markets. Just this month, the Texas city of Sugar Land voted unanimously to launch a new economic incentive program to entice companies to keep their headquarters in Fort Bend County.
Businesses that qualify for the new program can receive $6,000 per job to keep their HQs within city limits. In order to qualify for the program, companies based in Sugar Land must maintain at least 50 principal employees and renew their current lease for five to ten years inside the municipal limits.
The program also mandates that businesses invest a minimum of $1 million in build outs or office renovations. The investment requirement is anticipated to aid Sugar Land, which regularly rates as one of the state’s fastest-growing suburbs, in enhancing its office infrastructure by incentivizing businesses to spend money on enhancing their current space. While the program only targets companies with existing headquarters, the city is reportedly open to working with companies interested in relocating their headquarters to Sugar Land in the future.