Houston Community College Campus Case Study

If you have ever walked through the quiet, sparsely populated halls of the Missouri City campus, you wouldn’t guess that it is probably the most controversial Houston Community College location.
On Thursday Jan. 21, the governing board of HCC voted to sell the remaining 33 acre tract of unimproved property around the campus back to the Johnson Development Corporation, which the college originally bought the land from back in 2002 and 2004.
These acres in the master-planned community of Sienna Plantation was declared a property surplus by the HCC board about a year ago. Thursday’s vote is another step in completing the relocation of the Missouri City campus to the new location adjacent to the Missouri City Hall building on Texas Parkway, where there is more sustained development by the city.
This is the third time that the Missouri City

for $2,563,161. Newly elected Trustee John Hansen called the sell back a “yucky deal,” but HCC lawyers advised that under the college 's current deed, they have no chance of getting a better deal even if they take it to court.
When selling to another governmental entity, the college must abide by the appraised value. They 're selling the 11.7 acres and campus building to Fort Bend County at the appraised value of $8,000,000.
From the two separate land and building sales, HCC is taking in $10,563,161 for the property. Recall that HCC invested $16,102,702. That means at least $5,539,541 in tax dollars were lost on the Sienna location. HCC sold a $16 million dollar investment for $10.5 million.
The way HCC is passing this off as zero-dollar loss because the deficit is filled by grant and tax dollars. Besides sinking $5,539,541 on the Sienna location, the college is appropriating $21,500,000 from the 2013 Capital Improvement Project bond approved by district voters.
Add those two numbers together and HCC is dropping $27,039,541 of tax dollars to move the Missouri City