UT System cancels big Houston expansion (Dallas, Austin: apartment complex, buyer, public school)

[BCLRRE]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

It's not safe to say. The mainstream assumption is that Houston is better. But they are very even. Both Houston and Dallas have a lot to offer on every side. Like you said, Rice is the better than anything in Dallas (and Texas for that matter), but Dallas does have SMU, that while it isn't Rice by any means, it's still a great school. UH is the second major urban University system (after CUNY). DFW has UNT, but it's not close to UH system.

If you take the biggest school in DFW, it's UT Arlington, with just unsee 40K. That's just a little less than UH (42K). If you add UT's other major campus in DFW, you get UT Dallas with 26K students. But wait you get UH's other campuses with UH Downtown and UH Clearlake, and they come at 14K and 9K respectively. So in total, there's 66K in DFW with its biggest system, and there's 65K at UH's entire schools, right there with eachother.

But wait, that's right, each city has other major public schools as well. DFW has its major system with UNT. That's 36K and 3K respectively, coming at 39K. You can also add Texas Women's University giving it 12 K bringing the number higher. Now Houston has TSU with 10K and Prarie View with 9K and A&M at Galveston with 2K.

Altogether, DFW does have the better edge of the public scene, but not by much. Houston has the larger edge with it's private scene with (Rice, St Thomas, HBU, NAU).

One thing that Houston does, however, excel in over Dallas is Universitt post grad centers. Particularly health centers (no surprise there), but also law centers.

But they're still very even. If UT were to actually build a large campus in Houston, it would give Houston the lead.

"But they're still very even. If UT were to actually build a large campus in Houston, it would give Houston the lead."
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Exactly! The expansion would have given Houston a great edge, and that's the reason the Houston haters throughout Texas helped UH kill it...and the opposition used Houston's dumbass John Whitmire to do it. What a traitor and a douche! What he did is disgusting. Houston leadership really sucks...this felt like we were shot with our own gun. Dallas leaders have civic pride and stand up and fight for Dallas, same for Austin...but Houston's pissy-poor crap "leaders" will bend over and spread 'em wide every time and cause Houston to get fuct. It's time to STOP electing these low-life clowns. Again, I hope it was worth it $$$ Johnny-boy.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by BCLRRE

"But they're still very even. If UT were to actually build a large campus in Houston, it would give Houston the lead."
-------------------------------------
Exactly! The expansion would have given Houston a great edge, and that's the reason the Houston haters throughout Texas helped UH kill it...and the opposition used Houston's dumbass John Whitmire to do it. What a traitor and a douche! What he did is disgusting. Houston leadership really sucks...this felt like we were shot with our own gun. Dallas leaders have civic pride and stand up and fight for Dallas, same for Austin...but Houston's pissy-poor crap "leaders" will bend over and spread 'em wide every time and cause Houston to get fuct. It's time to STOP electing these low-life clowns. Again, I hope it was worth it $$$ Johnny-boy.

Yeah. Another thing is that some people include Huntsville is in Greater Houston, and some people don't. But if you do, and you add University of Sam Houston to the list, Houston already has the edge, but that's debatable.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

If anything, UH whoring itself out like this with all these different campus around the metro cuts into what the flagship could be. It starts to take on a community college feel with all these various campuses.

Technically they are three different universities (UH, UH-Downtown, and UH Clear Lake) - And UH Victoria is also its own university.

UNT Dallas became a separate university of the UNT system, and there is also the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

[Houston parent]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

... however, I don't see how anybody could call this area "rough" since it is basically a vacant area with little development of any kind....

There is plenty around this tract, and it consists mainly of warehouses and old apartments (to be fair, there are a couple newer apartment complexes nearby as well). I've actually driven through this parcel in the past. You don't need to get in the car to know I'm right - just check it out on Google Earth. This is a short distance southwest of the Astrodome - an area not exactly known for beautiful scenery or low crime. I can only guess that they thought the new campus might help spur some gentrification.


I'm not a UT or UH booster, BTW. My remarks are from a commercial real estate perspective. This tract is going to be a hard one to sell, and they stand a good chance of either losing money, waiting a long time for a buyer, or both.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by Houston parent

I'm not a UT or UH booster, BTW. My remarks are from a commercial real estate perspective. This tract is going to be a hard one to sell, and they stand a good chance of either losing money, waiting a long time for a buyer, or both.

I know Rice University owns the Village Arcade and makes money off of it. If they are able to succeed with a shopping center of some sort or some other commercial venture...

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Houston parent

There is plenty around this tract, and it consists mainly of warehouses and old apartments (to be fair, there are a couple newer apartment complexes nearby as well). I've actually driven through this parcel in the past. You don't need to get in the car to know I'm right - just check it out on Google Earth. This is a short distance southwest of the Astrodome - an area not exactly known for beautiful scenery or low crime. I can only guess that they thought the new campus might help spur some gentrification.


I'm not a UT or UH booster, BTW. My remarks are from a commercial real estate perspective. This tract is going to be a hard one to sell, and they stand a good chance of either losing money, waiting a long time for a buyer, or both.

The main axes of that property is Buffalo Spwy and that stretch from Willowbend to Belfort looks pretty good to me. The east and west edges may be less pristine but I'm sure UT could work around that. You know U of H ain't exactly in the most upscale location itself.

BTW it's southwest of NRG as well

Originally Posted by Vicman

I know Rice University owns the Village Arcade and makes money off of it. If they are able to succeed with a shopping center of some sort or some other commercial venture...

Or maybe they will just sit on it until the idea of UT expansion comes up again....

[KerrTown]

Honestly the UT System is too late in the game. For too long, the state has neglected higher education in Greater Houston and the University stepped up to fill the need and is ascending into Ivy League status. Sadly, quality higher education in Texas necessitated leaving the big city (or the small town in West Texas) and serving time in provincial Austin or College Station for 4 years.

UH has done a good job in building a world-class university and state university system around the metropolitan area over the past half-century while UT (and to a lesser extent, A&M) neglected Houston. All I can see are the good 'ol boys from UT-Austin (and A&M-College Station) trying to loot the assets of UH and the system because it's encroaching on the turf of UT/A&M superiority (and Tech, UNT, et al. is not far behind UH).

If the Houston area had to secede from Texas and write up a Declaration of Independence, the treatment by the Lege (and the Austin-based cabal of UT and A&M alumni elitists) of UH and the system would definitely be one of the grievances!

[Jack Lance]

Some still hold hope for abandoned project to fill void for vital sectors

An advisory group’s proposal for the now-scuttled plan by the University of Texas System to develop a property in Houston called for establishing a data science center that would be innovative in energy, health and education, fields vital to the city’s economic strength.

The proposal, a copy of which was obtained Wednesday, impressed prominent Houston leaders and University of Texas alumni, who are now wondering if the project would still be feasible on the 300-plus acre site near the Texas Medical Center despite the fact that UT has said it no longer plans to pursue it.

Texas Southern University public policy professor Jay Kumar Aiyer saw the proposal on Wednesday and said it could have garnered support in Houston if it were announced before UT called off the project.
“(UH) viewed it as an institution that would significantly damage them in terms of undercutting them on students,” said Aiyer, a chief of staff for former mayor Lee Brown. “This does not look like that at all.”

https://www.pressreader.com/usa/hous...70330/textview

[DabOnEm]

Oh I see. They're trying to rebrand it to get back in those whiny kids...I mean UH alumni graces . Hope it gets built.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

While I would not necessarily have been averse to the building of a new center, is there any reason the functions described above can't be done at existing institutions in Houston or elsewhere? Wouldn't that save a lot of money? Take for example the Health Data. UT has 2 system medical schools and a School of Public Health in the Houston area. Why not just use existing campuses (unless there are physical plant lot expansion imitations).

There is. UT Medical School and MD Anderson have been buying a bunch of land in the general area where the campus would have been.