University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch The University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch facility contains 20 classrooms and a virtual library.[/caption]

Updated 4:30 p.m., Nov. 10


University of Houston System officials announced Thursday that the land purchase from Parkside Capital has been finalized.

UHS will build an 80,000-square-foot building at the site—located at the northeast corner of I-10 and the Grand Parkway—to host classes from both UH’s main campus and UH-Victoria. Officials said construction is expected to begin in August 2017 and that the campus is projected to open in the fall of 2019.

The 46 acres bought by UHS is a portion of a 125-acre tract that UHS and Parkside Capital have named University Center, officials said. The center will be a master-planned and deed-restricted mixed-use development.

According to officials, the campus will initially host 2,000 students. However, the master plan will allow for expansion of the campus up to 500,000 square feet, which could accommodate between 8,000 and 10,000 students, they said.

“We are excited to welcome the University of Houston and UH-Victoria to University Center,” Parkside Capital CEO John Moody said in a press release. “We look forward to working with the UH System to create a first-class environment.”

Updated 5:08 p.m., June 24


The University of Houston Board of Regents approved the purchase of a new, 46-acre Katy campus located in Verde Park near the intersection of I-10 and the Grand Parkway at Thursday’s regents meeting held at the Victoria campus.

The new location has a target opening date set for the fall of 2018, said Jason Smith, the UH System vice chancellor of governmental relations.

Smith said the campus’ centralized location within the Katy area was an instrumental factor in the purchasing decision.

“[The new campus is] ideally located to serve the needs of Katy and for folks to access the campus easily being on the two main thoroughfares through the area, I-10 and [the Grand Parkway],” Smith said. “It makes it very easy for the people of Katy and west Houston to get to campus quickly and back home. Making attending class accessible [and] easy makes it an attractive campus.”

Smith also said that the current 10-acre Cinco Ranch satellite campus—which has been open since 1989 and offers classes predominantly through the Victoria college—will be closed and put up for sale and that two temporary locations will be announced in the coming weeks. One will house the Victoria programs currently at the Cinco Ranch location, and the other will house the Katy-based engineering program offered through the main campus for the upcoming fall 2016 semester.
“The dynamic growth in the Katy area is clear evidence of the need for expanded educational services in the region."

– Paula Myrick Short, UH System vice chancellor for academic affairs

UH System officials said while the Cinco Ranch campus has a 36,000-square foot classroom building, it is landlocked and therefore does not provide any opportunities for expansion.

The new Katy location provides possibilities for expansion, sitting on a $13.8 million plot of land with an option to purchase an additional 14.6 acres at a cost of $6.3 million if bought within 12 months, according to the university officials.

Officials also said that the new campus will allow for increased enrollment. Cinco Ranch currently houses around 1,000 students, and the new Katy campus is expected to be able to accommodate an enrollment of approximately 8,000 to 10,000.

Smith said UH System officials will determine over the next six months to 12 months which colleges and what degree programs will ultimately be offered at the new Katy location. He said all current Victoria programs along with both engineering and nursing from the main campus are high priority subjects to have at the new campus.

The land purchase is being finalized and the system does not have an official timeline set for breaking ground, Smith said. Officials anticipate hosting an official groundbreaking event at a future date.

“As we finalize that land purchase over the next month, I’m sure that we will want to celebrate with the people of Katy about this big shift and big move to Katy,” Smith said. “And I know that folks in Katy will want to celebrate with us. So, I suspect we’ll try to get something done within the next six months as far as the celebration goes.”

UH System Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Paula Myrick Short led a system task force that conducted a study of 15-20 different locations and commissioned an independent demographic analysis of the region before settling on the chosen site.

Short said in a press release that the selection process was highly strategic.

“The dynamic growth in the Katy area is clear evidence of the need for expanded educational services in the region,” she said in the release. “The University of Houston System has worked with residents to make sure we are meeting their needs, at a location that will offer convenient access, as well as room to grow.”

In addition to Short’s task force, the Katy Area Economic Development Council played an integral role in the process of attracting the UH System to the Katy area, according to Katy Area EDC president and CEO Lance LaCour.

LaCour said that expanding higher education in Katy has been on his company’s radar for nine years and that a study published by a leadership task force at the Katy Area EDC helped to further identify its need.

“[With regard to] higher education, we have a strategic plan for economic development,” LaCour said. “This has been part of our strategic plan since 2006 when we did our first strategic plan, and we kept it as a major focus during that time period.”

The Katy Area EDC worked closely with legislators in conjunction with other organizations to obtain $46.8 million in funding from the Texas Legislature in the form of Capital Construction Bonds, an amount that will go toward the purchase of land and construction.

“We had an advocacy role in that regard,” LaCour said. “We did a resolution of support, and we monitored that process very closely and stayed in contact with our legislators and made sure they understood how important that project was to us.”

LaCour also said that he is looking forward to observing the economic growth that the new campus will bring to Katy.

“The economic impact, the long-term quality of life impact, on Katy is enormous for having this sort of facility,” LaCour said. “It helps our capability of bringing new companies to Katy, and I think they’re going to have a flag of energy-related activities to support the energy industry and also to support the medical industry as well, and those are two really solid economic sectors for Katy.”

Smith said the acquisition of the property has been a collaborative process among several entities.

“It was a team effort, it’s taken some time, but we couldn’t have got over the finish line without securing the funding through the legislature during last session without local support, which was organized by the EDC,” Smith said. “We feel like this has been strategically created with their help and the city and other folks, legislators from the area.”