Smart Financial Centre to open in Sugar Land

SUGAR LAND (FOX 26) - It might be hard to tell from the outside, but work inside the Smart Financial Centre is going at a furious pace. They are on a deadline. The first acts are already booked. The show must go on, and by that VP Randy Bloom says almost any kind of show.

"Graduations. Comedy. Arts. Touring Broadway shows. Concerts. Community events. Weddings. Weddings? We had inquiries about weddings and we thought 'why not'"

Why they can is thanks to an unusual feature. The center has moving walls that can shrink the venue from 6400 seats to about two-thirds that size. Making it appropriate for full concerts to more intimate performances. It also comes with 14 suites and club seats.

Speaking of seats, The farthest seat is just 180 feet from the stage.

This building is more than just a place to go see live acts, it's part of a broader strategy in Sugar  Land that started about ten years ago. They were tired of every weekend seeing entertainment dollars flow up 59 into the city. They didn't just want to stop the flow, but reverse it.

“We want to make sure that our residents can live, work, shop and play in Sugar Land and also to attract visitors. So it's been part of our vision to be a destination.” Said Jennifer May, the city’s director of economic development.

So Sugar Land used creative funding to build Constellation Field. It's building a festival site. A hotel and convention center and a community art center are on the wish list.

But back to the Smart Centre. The Grand opening will be January 14th when the man who had a show about nothing will take to the yet to be completed stage to joke about everything.

Jerry Seinfeld, in case you don’t remember the 90’s.