FortBendNow.com

HCSS, a Houston construction industry software maker, plans to move its headquarters to Sugar Land, along with 120 to 140 employees.

Known as HCSS, Heavy Construction Systems Specialists Inc. plans to build a new 40,000 to 50,000-square-foot headquarters building on about 12 acres, at the southeast corner of West Airport Boulevard and Alston Road in Sugar Land.

That information was contained in a tax abatement application submitted to Fort Bend County Commissioner’s Court on Tuesday. The court approved the abatement agreement, and the City of Sugar Land has given its OK to a similar abatement.

HCSS makes a variety to software used by the construction industry, including programs used for construction estimating, field and resource management. The company was ranked No. 6 recently by Texas Monthly on a list of the best medium-sized companies to work for in the state of Texas.

In an economic impact statement prepared for the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council, HCSS Chief Executive and President Michael Rydin said the average salary of his company’s Sugar Land employees will be $65,000.

Rydin said in the statement that HCSS wants to build the new headquarters to “further contribute to our facility and company being an outstanding work environment for our employees, that allows us to become a pillar of the community and a preferred place to work for Sugar Land residents.”

Construction of the new headquarters is expected to begin in December. When complete, the land, building and fixtures will probably have a market value of $9.3 million, according to the impact statement.

The project will result in an initial annual payroll of about $9.5 million, with annual Texas sales generated from the new facility of $1.3 million, the impact statement says. Also, the company’s business is expected to generate 2,160 or more annual hotel room stays.

HCSS is the latest of at least three deals reached this year to bring major corporate headquarters to Sugar Land.

In January, Coca-Cola Co. division Minute Maid Co. completed an agreement with the City of Sugar Land and developers that will result in its headquarters moving to an office building now under construction across from Sugar Land City Hall on Town Square.

And in May, FortBendNow reported that Cosentino, possibly the world’s largest marble and quartz countertop makers, is moving its U.S. headquarters from Stafford to Sugar Land’s Lake Pointe development.