FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — An exciting update! For more than a year, KHOU 11 has been telling you about a non-profit organization that plans to transform an abandoned shopping center near Missouri City, into a thriving cultural arts center.
Located in the area known as Fort Bend, Houston, the center on W. Fuqua has been sitting vacant for more than two decades and has become an eyesore for the community.
That all changed, with a demolition ceremony on Thursday.
"We're just excited about the representation of what this demolition means," said Charity Carter, found of Edison Arts Foundation. "It's the start of construction. It's new beginnings. It's renaissance. It's rebirth."
Carter said it’s been a long time coming. Her organization, which she started with seed money from her father, is spearheading the project.
When we first met Carter last March, she told us she had high hopes and a vision for the abandoned shopping center. She also shared the reality of the nuisance it had become in the community.
"This shopping center is blight," she said at the time. "It is vandalized, it is graffiti."
Fast forward, more than a year.
"It's a beacon of hope,” said Carter.
From community members to elected officials, dozens showed up at Thursday’s demolition ceremony.
Carter said within the next year, the empty lot will be transformed into the Edison Cultural Arts Center, which will be a 32,000 sq. ft facility that will house a 400-seat theater space, as well as a dance studio.
"It is going to be a destination for the arts," said Carter.
There will also be a health clinic, after-school center, small business incubators, affordable retail space and an outdoor greenspace.
"This is a long thought-out master plan to bring vibrance and revitalization to this community," she said.
Also, part of the 12.5-acre master plan is a 126-unit housing development that went up two years ago, which Carter says is now 100% occupied with a waiting list.
While the journey hasn't been easy, Carter said the goal is to increase the quality of life for residents in the community.
"This building and this project represent the solution, the foundation for our young children, the foundation for our families to support our young children, and our communities to come together,” she said.
If you'd like to learn more about the project or make donations, click here.