Above: brand imagery for The George, courtesy of Johnson Development.
Every so often a genuinely new place to live opens up in Fort Bend, not a new section of an existing subdivision, but a whole new community built from raw land with its own name, schools, and identity. That is rare in a county this established, and it is exactly what is happening right now at The George, a 1,500 acre master planned community that just opened for sales in Richmond. If you are shopping for new construction anywhere in the Sugar Land and Richmond area, this one belongs on your list, and the smartest time to understand it is early, before the first phase fills in.
So here is the full picture, the way I would lay it out for a client: the story behind the land, who is building it, what the homes actually cost, the schools, the amenities, and how to play phase one to your advantage.
The land and the name
The George is not a made up marketing name. It is a tribute to the George family, whose legacy is stitched into Fort Bend history. The 1,500 acres were purchased from the George Foundation, the charitable organization that oversees the George Ranch, a 20,000 acre working ranch founded back in 1824. If you have ever taken your kids to the George Ranch Historical Park to see the longhorns and the 1890s Victorian home, you already know the name. Now a piece of that ranch land is becoming a place to live.
That heritage matters more than it sounds. A community built on land with real roots tends to carry a stronger sense of identity than a generic subdivision carved out of a soybean field, and Johnson Development has leaned into that story with the community's branding, right down to the cowboy and the live oak. For a buyer, the practical translation is simple: this is a place designed to feel like somewhere, not anywhere.
Where it is
The George sits in Richmond, in the growing western stretch of Fort Bend County, roughly 30 miles southwest of downtown Houston, near the FM 2977 and Koeblen Road area. That puts it firmly in the path of where Fort Bend is expanding, out past the established Sugar Land core into the newer western communities.
Be honest with yourself about the commute, because location is the one thing you cannot renovate. From here you are farther out than a Sugar Land address, so if you work inside the loop every day, drive it at rush hour before you fall in love. But if you work in Fort Bend, the Energy Corridor, or from home, you are trading a few miles for more house, newer everything, and a brand new community, which is a trade a lot of buyers are happily making right now. If you are weighing the wider area first, our ultimate guide to Sugar Land neighborhoods and the developments reshaping Fort Bend in 2026 put The George in context with everything else being built.
The developer's track record
This is the part I would not skip if I were you, because in new construction the developer matters as much as the builder. The George is Johnson Development's ninth master planned community in Fort Bend County, and the company is currently the largest developer of master planned communities in the county, with roughly 26,000 acres under development as it marks its 50th anniversary.
Their Fort Bend resume is basically a tour of the area's best known communities: Sienna in Missouri City, Riverstone and Imperial in the Sugar Land area, Veranda and Harvest Green near Richmond, and Cross Creek Ranch, Jordan Ranch, and Cross Creek West out in Fulshear. If you have driven through any of those and thought the parks, trails, and entry monuments felt a cut above, that is the same team behind The George. A developer with that track record does not fumble the amenities or leave a community half finished, and that reliability is worth real money to an early buyer who is, in effect, betting on a promise. For a feel of what one of their finished communities looks like, our Sienna community guide is a good comparison.
The homes: builders and prices
Now the numbers. Phase one of The George comprises 319 homesites, with a mix of 40, 45, 50, and 60 foot lots, and Johnson Development brought in eight builders for it: Chesmar Homes, Newmark Homes, Perry Homes, Empire Homes, David Weekley Homes, Westin Homes, Highland Homes, and J. Patrick Homes. The lot widths are split across the builders, so you get real variety in home size and price within a single community.
Pricing at launch runs from the $360,000s into the $600,000s depending on lot size and floor plan. On the more attainable end, Newmark Homes is building on the 40 foot lots with plans in the range of roughly 2,100 to 2,800 square feet starting around $360,000. At the top of phase one, Highland Homes is building on the 60 foot lots, the largest in the community, with pricing starting in the low $600,000s. Everything else, from Perry to David Weekley to Westin, fills in between.
As of the 2026 launch, model homes are under construction and sales are underway, with builders including Highland, J. Patrick, Empire, Newmark, and David Weekley leading the model home push. That is a meaningful detail: buying now means buying into a community where the models are still going up, which is both the opportunity and the caveat, and I will get to both. If a purchase in this band is your target, our roundup of homes under $500K in Sugar Land and Fort Bend shows where The George fits against the resale market, and the builder incentives playbook is required reading before you sign anything.
Amenities
The George is planned as an amenity rich community, which is the Johnson Development signature. Early plans call for a large amenity center in the first phase, described in various documents in the range of roughly 12 to 20 acres as the design settles, along with a woven trail system, parks, playgrounds, and generous green space meant to work as outdoor living rooms for events and everyday use.
If it follows the pattern of the company's other communities, expect the anchor amenities to include a resort style pool and a clubhouse as the centerpiece, with the trail network tying the neighborhoods together. One honest note: at this early stage the amenity center is still in planning and construction, so the first wave of residents will move in before every amenity is open. That is normal for a phase one purchase, but you should buy knowing the pool and clubhouse are a promise on a timeline, not a key you get at closing. For the broader new construction landscape in the county, our Fort Bend new construction guide covers how these communities typically phase in.
Schools
Schools drive resale demand more than any other single factor here, so know the district. The George is zoned to Lamar Consolidated ISD, not Fort Bend ISD, a distinction worth understanding since most of the Sugar Land communities buyers compare it to sit in FBISD. Lamar CISD is the fast growing district serving the western part of the county, and it is opening new campuses to keep pace with exactly this kind of growth.
Do your own homework on the specific campuses your address would feed into, because in a growing district boundaries and new schools shift, and the school assignment can change between phases. Confirm the current zoning for any specific homesite with the district and your agent before you write an offer. If you want to understand how to read a district's ratings and zoning in the first place, the framework in our Fort Bend ISD school ratings and zoning guide applies just as well to Lamar CISD.
How to buy smart in phase one
Buying into a brand new community is a different game than buying a resale home, and the buyers who do it well follow a few rules.
First, lot selection is everything, and the best lots go first. In a new community the premium homesites, the ones backing to green space, on a cul de sac, or with the best orientation, get scooped up early in each phase. If a specific lot type matters to you, moving early in phase one is a real advantage, not just sales pressure.
Second, the incentives are negotiable, and they are where the money is. Builders in a launching community often offer rate buydowns, closing cost credits, and design center allowances to get the first homes sold, and those concessions can be worth far more than a small price cut. The mistake buyers make is negotiating the sticker price and ignoring the incentives. Do the opposite. Our builder incentives playbook walks through exactly how to stack those.
Third, use your own agent from the very first visit. The builder's sales representative works for the builder, not for you, and in Texas builders typically account for buyer agent representation at no cost to you. Register your agent on your first visit so you have someone reading the contract, the addenda, and the incentive fine print on your side of the table. New arrivals to the area should also read our guide to moving to Sugar Land and Fort Bend from out of state, since buying new construction from a distance has its own choreography.
Fourth, understand the phasing before you buy. In a community that sells well, prices in later phases often open higher than phase one, as the developer meets demand and the amenities come online. That does not guarantee your home appreciates, nothing does, but it means an early buyer in a successful community is frequently buying near the lowest the community will offer, with the trade off that you live through the construction around you. Ask each builder how many phases are planned and where pricing is expected to head, then weigh the earliest lots against your appetite for a few years of building next door. It is the same logic that rewarded early buyers in Sienna and Cross Creek Ranch a decade ago.
The honest caveats
I would not be doing my job if I only sold you the upside, so here is the straight talk on a phase one purchase.
You are buying into a construction zone for a while. Roads, amenities, and later phases will be built out around you over the coming years, which means some noise, some dust, and some patience. New master planned communities also carry MUD or similar special district taxes that fund the infrastructure, so the total tax rate on a new build here can run higher than an established neighborhood, and you should get the full rate before you commit, not after. And because the community is brand new, there is no resale track record yet, so you are betting on the developer's reputation and the area's growth rather than years of comparable sales.
None of that is a reason to walk away. It is the normal trade for getting in early on a well run new community on land with real history, in the direction Fort Bend is clearly growing. The George has the developer, the location, and the story to be one of the area's standout communities, and phase one is where the best lots and the strongest incentives live. For why the fundamentals under all this growth are solid, our why Sugar Land home values have a floor piece and the recent news that Sugar Land cracked America's top 10 best places to live both apply to the wider area The George sits in.
If you want to walk The George, compare a specific lot and builder against your budget, or figure out whether new construction here beats a resale home in Sugar Land for your situation, reach out and I will give you the straight version, incentives and caveats included.
Sources: The George by Johnson Development; Community Impact, Johnson Development announces builders for The George; Houston Agent Magazine, sales begin at The George.
