The Hiram Clarke/Fort Bend Redevelopment Authority has received a $500,000 grant to assess brownfield sites.
There’s a story LeRon Wilson likes to tell about community revitalization.
Situated along Fuqua Street in southwest Houston, near the Sims Bayou Trail and a park, there was an abandoned gas station.
“People would buy their drugs and alcohol from that gas station, and go and lay out on the benches next door in the Simon Minchen Park, making it unsafe,” Wilson said.
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Wilson is the executive director for Hiram Clarke/Fort Bend Redevelopment Authority, which was created by the Houston City Council in 2013 to reinvest tax dollars in the southwest part of the city.
In 2023, Wilson said, the redevelopment authority acquired the abandoned gas station and demolished it. The property is being developed into a community green space.
“Now you’re going to have added green space in an area where the community was afraid to use the park,” Wilson said.
It’s a process the redevelopment authority is hoping to replicate across other parts of southwest Houston, after they received half a million dollars in a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this summer.
The grant is designated for assessment of “brownfield” sites, such as abandoned dry cleaners, gas stations or illegal dumping sites where lingering pollution and hazardous materials make it difficult to redevelop the area.
The redevelopment authority plans to use the grant money to assess 21 sites, following up with “deeper testing” on as many as five locations, according to a news release. The money will also help the authority develop cleanup and redevelopment plans for these sites.
“What this means for the community is that we’re able to focus on some of these properties that have been a thorn to the development of the area,” Wilson said.
The redevelopment authority will be soliciting community feedback. Residents can receive updates on the grant projects by signing up for the authority’s mailing list.