New HCC Missouri City campus will aid in community revitalization
Dec 3, 2015
Years of talks about building a new Houston Community College (HCC) campus in Missouri City turned into action with a much anticipated town hall meeting for the HCC Missouri City Center for Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Health (CETH). An excited crowd of community members and officials from Missouri City and Fort Bend County joined HCC trustees, administrators, and staff at Missouri City City Hall to see plans for the new facility and ask questions.
“This community is very engaged and focused on higher education and the opportunities that it brings. HCC has been planning for this campus for sometime and we are proud to finally see progress,” said Dr. Cesar Maldonado, HCC chancellor.
The current HCC Missouri City campus is located in Sienna Plantation, where construction over the past decade has made it hard for students to find the building.
“When we put the site there we had the best intentions,” said Fort Bend County Commissioner Grady Prestage. “But the growth far exceeded our expectations.”
That growth prompted the idea from HCC District VII Trustee Neeta Sane and city and county officials to find another use for the Sienna Plantation Campus and build a new HCC campus on a stretch of Texas Parkway—with the hopes of attracting more students and new development to the area.
“We have to make sure that education is available to each and every student,” said Sane. “I am really thrilled to see that our vision to make HCC accessible to this community is becoming a reality.”
That reality will come in the form of a $21.5M, 68,000 square foot, two-story facility adjacent to City Hall and the city library. The building will be energy efficient and constructed with sustainable methods designed to meet LEED Silver Certification requirements. The new campus will offer core academic programs in their entirety and workforce programs will come as the demand arises.
“This is probably the most densely populated area of Missouri City, so moving the campus to this location will fit very well in the HCC business plan as I see it,” said Mayor Pro Tem Don Smith, Missouri City Council.
Llarance Turner serves on the HCC bond oversight committee and will have the best view of the construction because he lives right across the street.
“This will take a vacant piece of land and bring a beautiful facility for all of us to enjoy,” said Turner. “It will also spread development and growth all up and down Texas Parkway.”
“It means the world to me that Houston Community College, along with the City of Missouri City, will bring an educational facility here for our children,” said Kenneth Goode, Missouri City resident.
The Missouri City Campus at Sienna Plantation will stay open and continue to offer classes while the construction of the new campus is underway. Target opening date for the new facility is early 2017. For information about the new facility and others in the HCC Groundbreaker Bond Program, visit hccs.edu/bond.