North American University is moving to Stafford from north Houston this month. The private, not-for-profit four-year university will be housed on several floors of a nine-story building at 11929 W. Airport Blvd. The 12 acre campus will have 190,000 square feet of functional space. The Atrium Medical Center, a long-term acute care hospital, currently occupies the building. “Where we’re located currently, it’s not conducive to a student-centered environment,” Associate Director of Admissions Shawn Washington said. The school has about 700 students and 75 staff, he said. Half of the students are online participants and about half of the student body is international students, he said. “Our future goal is to be 1,000 [students] by the end of this calendar year,” Washington said. He said the north Houston campus, located at 3203 North Sam Houston Parkway West, did not allow students to easily walk around. Other concern included the highway noise and a lack of eateries near the current campus, he said. “We wanted to offer a better student experience,” Washington said. “Students wanted to be able to experience the local environment.” North American University changed its name in 2010 from the Texas Gulf Institute, an English as a Second Language school with multiple locations in Houston. The university offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Independent College and Schools, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas Higher Education Association and the U.S. Department of Education. The hospital will occupy two floors of the building, which will also have space available for lease, Washington said. He said North American University is looking to build an athletic complex on the campus in the future and is currently constructing a four-floor women’s dormitory to also house a cafeteria and movie theater. The men’s dormitory will be located in the main building. “We just want to offer the amenities of a university, basically,” Washington said.