Above: the Austin Point master plan. Phase one is the red outline at the far western edge, which is the honest scale of what exists today against what is drawn. Rendering courtesy of austinpoint.com.
Every few years a project comes along in Fort Bend that is not really a neighborhood. Sienna was one, starting in the 1980s. Riverstone was another. Austin Point is the next one, and by acreage it is the largest master planned community started in this county since Sienna broke ground.
The numbers are genuinely hard to picture. 4,700 acres. More than 14,000 homes at buildout. A planned 15 million square feet of multifamily, office, medical, retail and hospitality space. A projected 50,000 residents. That is not a community. That is a mid sized city, and The Signorelli Company is calling it exactly that: a town.
Phase one is 125 acres and 421 homes.
Both of those facts are true at the same time, and reconciling them is the whole job for anyone thinking about buying here. Here is the honest version.
Key takeaways
- Austin Point is 4,700 acres in Richmond, about 10 miles south of US 59 off FM 762, south of Richmond and near George Ranch High School. It is Signorelli's largest project.
- Phase one is 125 acres and 421 homes from nine builders, priced from the mid $200,000s to the high $900,000s, on lots 35 to 70 feet wide, from 1,500 to 4,500 square feet.
- The plan calls for more than 14,000 homes and 15 million square feet of commercial space, with buildout estimated at 15 to 20 years by some sources and 20 to 30 by others.
- Lamar CISD, not Fort Bend ISD. An on site elementary school is expected to open in 2027.
- The location bet is two highways that do not exist yet: the planned extensions of the Grand Parkway and the Fort Bend Parkway, which the developer expects to bring downtown, the Texas Medical Center and the Galleria within 25 to 30 minutes.
- The MUD rate is the number nobody publishes, and on a brand new district it is usually the largest hidden cost in the deal.
- From Sugar Land this is a real drive today and a much shorter one if the road plan lands. That timing gap is the risk and also the reason phase one is priced where it is.
What is actually being built
Answer first: a district based town plan, not a subdivision with an amenity center bolted on.
Signorelli's stated concept is a series of flexible, interconnected districts mixing residential, commercial, healthcare, educational, entertainment and civic uses, serving both Austin Point residents and the surrounding area. The 15 million square feet of planned commercial space is meant to create employment on site rather than exporting every resident onto a highway each morning.
Phase one is single family homes. Future phases are planned to add townhomes, apartments, active adult housing and build to rent product as demand shows up.
| Austin Point | |
|---|---|
| Total acreage | 4,700 |
| Planned homes | More than 14,000 |
| Planned commercial | 15 million square feet |
| Projected residents | About 50,000 |
| Phase one | 125 acres, 421 homes |
| Phase one price range | Mid $200,000s to high $900,000s |
| Lot widths | 35 to 70 feet |
| Home sizes | 1,500 to 4,500 square feet |
| School district | Lamar CISD |
| Estimated buildout | 15 to 30 years, depending on the source |
The nine phase one builders are Ashton Woods, David Weekley Homes, Perry Homes, Beazer Homes, CastleRock Communities, Newmark Homes, Westin Homes, Drees Custom Homes and William David Homes. That is a wide spread, from national volume builders to custom, which is what gives phase one its unusually large price range.
The amenity, and the history under it
The centerpiece is The 1824, a community event space and café. The name is the year the original landowner, William Tennant Austin, received title to the land.
It includes an event lawn, a children's play area, a beer garden, a food truck court and space for outdoor fitness and games. Parks and nature trails are planned around it, and here is the detail I like most: the trail system incorporates the former canal network that once irrigated rice fields on this land.
That is a genuinely good piece of design. Rice canals are already graded, already linear and already connect places to each other. Using them instead of erasing them gives a brand new community something new communities almost never have, which is a reason the paths go where they go.
The location, and the honest version of it
Answer first: today Austin Point is a real drive from Sugar Land. The entire value proposition depends on road projects that are planned but not finished.
Austin Point sits roughly 10 miles south of US 59, off FM 762 south of Richmond, near George Ranch High School. From most of Sugar Land you are heading southwest on 59 and then south, and it is not a quick trip on a weekday.
The developer's case is that Austin Point is positioned at the junction of the planned extensions of the Grand Parkway and the Fort Bend Parkway, and that once those land, downtown, the Texas Medical Center and the Galleria come within 25 to 30 minutes.
That is a reasonable bet and it is not a guarantee. I wrote up the Grand Parkway situation in detail in the Segment C guide, and the short version is that Fort Bend County handed primacy to TxDOT in May 2026, with an executed design build agreement committed by the end of 2027 and Segment C-1 plus its direct connectors to US 59 targeted for completion by the end of 2032. Segment C-1 terminates near Austin Point.
So the road story is real, funded and moving, and it is also seven years out on the piece that matters most. A buyer in phase one is buying the commute they will have in the 2030s at today's price, and living with today's commute in the meantime. For some people that trade is excellent. For a Medical Center nurse working three twelves a week right now, it is not.
Schools: Lamar CISD, and what that means
Answer first: Austin Point is Lamar CISD, the fastest growing district in Fort Bend County, and its on site elementary is expected in 2027.
That is a different situation from Fort Bend ISD, which is dealing with declining elementary enrollment and is currently redrawing its secondary boundaries. Lamar CISD has the opposite problem. It has passed 49,000 students, carries a state hypergrowth designation, and its own planning counts 94 actively building subdivisions and more than 55,000 future lots in development. Austin Point is named in that planning as one of the growth drivers.
What that means practically for a buyer:
New buildings, and a lot of them. Voters approved $1.96 billion in bonds in November 2025. Campuses at Austin Point will be new.
Boundaries will move. In a district adding roughly 2,000 students a year, attendance zones are not stable. Lamar CISD has said more than half its campuses are projected to be over capacity within a decade. Verify zoning by address with the district, every time, and expect it to change. I go through the district's growth plan in the Lamar CISD schools post.
Until the on site elementary opens in 2027, kids are bused elsewhere. Ask the builder exactly where, in writing, and do the drive yourself.
The number nobody prints: the MUD rate
This is the part I care about most and it is the part the model home will not volunteer.
Austin Point is served by its own municipal utility districts, including Austin Point MUD 2. I could not find a published rate for it, and I am not going to invent one.
What I can tell you is how these work. A MUD rate has two parts, operations and maintenance plus debt service. A brand new MUD carries the full cost of building the water, sewer and drainage infrastructure across a very small tax base, because almost nobody lives there yet. That is why new districts in this county frequently start above $1.00 per $100 and decline over years as more rooftops share the load.
Put that next to the rest of a Fort Bend bill and it dominates. A community with a $1.00 MUD rate versus one with a $0.30 rate is a difference of $0.70 per $100, which on a $400,000 taxable value is $2,800 a year, about $233 a month, on identical houses.
So the single most important question you can ask at an Austin Point model home is not about the floor plan. It is: what is the current MUD tax rate on this specific lot, and what is the district's debt schedule? Get it in writing. Verify it against the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District rather than the sales office. The full anatomy of a Fort Bend tax bill is in the property tax guide, and this month's rate changes are in the September tax rate breakdown.
How Austin Point compares to what is already out there
Answer first: it is bigger than everything else being built in Fort Bend, it starts cheaper, and it is further out.
| Community | Acres | Planned homes | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Point | 4,700 | 14,000+ | Richmond, south |
| Heritage Bend | About 3,000 | 7,000+ | Near Fulshear, west |
| The George | 1,500 | About 4,000 | Richmond |
| Cross Creek West | 1,258 | About 3,000 | Fulshear |
| Starbridge | 933 | 2,000+ | Beasley |
I covered the western half of this picture in the west Fort Bend supply wave, which looks at what all of this new supply does to established Sugar Land resale values. Austin Point is the southern counterpart, and it is the largest single piece.
If you want the comparison that matters most, it is Sienna. Sienna started in the 1980s, is now a mature community with grown trees, finished infrastructure and a settled tax rate, and is the closest thing Fort Bend has to a finished version of what Austin Point is proposing. The Sienna guide is worth reading side by side with this one, because it shows you what year thirty looks like. Sienna also shows the cost: MUD rates there frequently run above 3 percent combined.
For the rest of the new construction landscape, the Fort Bend new construction guide has the full map.
Who phase one is genuinely right for
Straight answer, in both directions.
It works for you if you want more house than Sugar Land gives you at the same price, you are not commuting daily to the Medical Center or downtown, you can hold for ten years or more, and the idea of watching a town get built is appealing rather than exhausting. At the mid $200,000s entry point, this reaches buyers priced entirely out of Sugar Land, whose median sits far above that.
It does not work for you if you need a short commute now, you may sell within five years, or you want mature trees and finished retail. Phase one resale is the real risk. For years, your competition when you sell will be the builder next door selling a brand new version of your house with incentives you cannot match. That dynamic is exactly what I broke down in the builder incentives post, and you should read it from the seller's side before you buy.
There is no resale history here. None. Nobody can tell you what a five year old Austin Point home sells for, because one does not exist.
Five questions to ask before you sign
1. What is the MUD tax rate on this exact lot, and what is the debt schedule? Written answer only.
2. Where do my kids go to school until the on site elementary opens in 2027, and what is the bus ride? Then drive it at 7 a.m.
3. What is committed in writing for phase two, and what is aspiration? Fifteen million square feet of commercial is a plan, not a lease. Ask which retail is signed.
4. What does my builder's contract say about the community continuing to build around me? Construction traffic, mud, noise and a model home park across the street are the phase one tax.
5. Am I using the builder's preferred lender, and have I compared it? Builder incentives are usually tied to it, and the bundle is rarely the best available deal once you price it out properly.
The honest caveats
Four.
First, buildout estimates vary widely by source, from 15 to 20 years up to 20 to 30. Nobody knows. Development follows demand and demand follows rates.
Second, the 15 million square feet of commercial space is a plan. Master planned commercial gets built when rooftops justify it, which means the retail arrives after the residents, not before. Plan your first five years accordingly.
Third, the highway extensions are planned and partially funded, not finished. The Grand Parkway piece nearest Austin Point has a 2032 target and the segment further west has no published completion date at all.
Fourth, I could not verify a published MUD rate for Austin Point and I have deliberately left the number blank rather than estimate it. Get it from the district or from FBCAD before you write an offer.
Frequently asked questions
Where exactly is Austin Point?
Austin Point is in Richmond, in southern Fort Bend County, roughly 10 miles south of US 59 off FM 762, south of Richmond and near George Ranch High School. It sits at the junction of the planned extensions of the Grand Parkway and the Fort Bend Parkway. From most of Sugar Land it is a meaningful drive today, and the developer's case is that the road extensions will bring downtown, the Texas Medical Center and the Galleria within 25 to 30 minutes once complete.
How much do homes cost at Austin Point?
Phase one homes range from the mid $200,000s to the high $900,000s, spanning 1,500 to 4,500 square feet on lots 35 to 70 feet wide, with three to five bedrooms. The wide range reflects nine builders working at very different price points, from national volume builders through Drees Custom Homes. Remember that the sticker price is only part of the carrying cost. The MUD tax rate on a new district is frequently the larger variable.
What school district is Austin Point in?
Lamar Consolidated ISD, not Fort Bend ISD. An on site elementary school is expected to open in 2027. Lamar CISD is the fastest growing district in Fort Bend County, has passed 49,000 students and carries a state hypergrowth designation, so attendance boundaries move regularly. Verify zoning by exact address with the district before you buy, and expect it to be revisited as the community grows.
How big is Austin Point compared to other Fort Bend communities?
At 4,700 acres and more than 14,000 planned homes, it is the largest master planned community started in Fort Bend County since Sienna began in the 1980s. For comparison, Heritage Bend near Fulshear is about 3,000 acres and 7,000 plus homes, The George is 1,500 acres and about 4,000 homes, and Cross Creek West is 1,258 acres and about 3,000 homes. Austin Point also plans 15 million square feet of commercial, medical, office, retail and hospitality space, which is what distinguishes it from a large subdivision.
What is the risk of buying in phase one of a new community?
Three things. First, for years your resale competition is the builder next door selling a newer version of your house with financing incentives a private seller cannot match. Second, there is no resale history, so nobody can tell you what your home will be worth in five years. Third, you live through construction: traffic, noise, mud and unfinished amenities. The offsetting advantage is that phase one pricing is typically the lowest the community will ever offer, and early buyers capture the appreciation if the plan executes.
What is The 1824 at Austin Point?
The 1824 is the community's first major amenity, a combined event space and café named for the year the original landowner, William Tennant Austin, received title to the land. It includes an event lawn, a children's play area, a beer garden, a food truck court and areas for outdoor fitness and games. Parks and nature trails are planned around it, with the trail system incorporating the canal network that once irrigated rice fields on the property.
Should I buy in Austin Point or in established Sugar Land?
It depends almost entirely on your time horizon and your commute. Austin Point offers more square footage per dollar and a brand new home with a warranty, but a longer drive today, an unproven resale market and a MUD rate that is likely high while the district is young. Established Sugar Land offers mature trees, finished infrastructure, a settled tax structure, Fort Bend ISD and a deep resale history, at a higher price per square foot. If you plan to sell within five years, established generally wins. If you are holding for ten or more and the road extensions land, the arithmetic shifts.
Bottom line
Austin Point is the biggest thing being built in Fort Bend County, and the plan behind it is more ambitious than anything else on the map: not a community with a pool, but a town with commercial districts and its own employment base.
The plan will take somewhere between fifteen and thirty years. You would be buying into year one of it.
That is a genuinely good deal for the right buyer and a genuinely bad one for the wrong buyer, and the dividing line is not taste. It is your time horizon and your commute. Ten years and a flexible drive, and phase one pricing on a 4,700 acre plan looks smart. Five years and a daily run to the Medical Center, and you are paying today for a road that opens in 2032.
Before any of that, get the MUD rate in writing. It is the number that decides whether the payment you are quoted is the payment you make.
If you are weighing Austin Point against something established closer in, send me both addresses. I will run the full carrying cost on each, including the actual district rates, and tell you which one wins for your situation and your timeline.
Sources: The Signorelli Company, Austin Point and its phase one announcement; Houston Chronicle reporting on the Austin Point groundbreaking and 2026 opening; Community Impact reporting on Lamar CISD enrollment planning citing Zonda Demographics; Lamar Consolidated ISD; Fort Bend Central Appraisal District tax rates; Fort Bend County Commissioners Court action on Grand Parkway Segment C, May 14, 2026.
