UT system creates task force for Houston expansion amid opposition

The task force features former Greater Houston Partnership Chairman Paul Hobby and Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Gene Locke.

The task force is expected to deliver a list of recommendations to McRaven by the end of the year. McRaven will present these recommendations to the UT system board of regents, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Legislature.

The 100-acre land purchase is part of the UT system’s plan to purchase more than 300 acres of land that is 3.5 miles from the Texas Medical Center.

Although the business community is excited a major university is entering the area, some have reservations about the new UT campus, said Peggy Wilson, president and CEO of the Houston Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

“It is a little early to see what the economic impact will be to our member businesses,” Wilson said.

The land is close to downtown and features easy access to Loop 610 and Hwy. 288, but the UT system will need to develop expensive utilities that do not exist to support the development, said Bill Wong, owner of Orange Commercial, a Houston real estate firm.      

The project has been met with opposition from the University of Houston and legislators. Nineteen Houston-area state lawmakers—including current Mayor Sylvester Turner—wrote a letter to McRaven in December asking him to slow down the expansion.

“It appears many steps in planning have already been taken without consulting key stakeholders and leaders,” he said in the letter. “Accordingly, we respectfully ask for the system to step back and work with these local and state leaders, including the Legislature and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, before taking any major steps.”

The University of Houston System board of regents also criticized the plan, arguing at a November meeting that the expansion is a duplication of services. UH also declined a spot on the executive committee for the Houston Advisory Task Force in February.

“The University of Texas’ unilateral expansion signals a departure from the historical practice of using taxpayer funds to strategically serve citizens in all regions of the state through collaboration and cooperation,” the UH system said in a statement. 

The UT system sees this initiative as an expansion of its already large presence in Houston, McRaven said.

“As Houston’s second-largest employer and its top producer of research expenditures, the UT system’s 75-year-old footprint in Houston provides an excellent foundation,” he said.