KyleJohnstonNet

As the prime food contractor, Aramark had control over any new use of the property for food. UH just rebid their food services contract this past spring and switched to a new company who I assume now has control of the property and is probably starting from scratch to plan a use for it. That said, UH rebid their food services contract after an audit recommended changes. (They were auditing all departments of A&F.) If you could find that full audit report it might have recommendations about the use of the property which might have been included as requirements in the RFP for the new food services contract.

The University Village Civic Club posted the following on their Facebook page about the upcoming education lab: University Village is the area bounded by Scott, I-45, Cullen, and Elgin. AFAIK, the club is old but was revived in recent years by two UH alum who built a $370k house on an empty lot in a neighborhood where most properties are valued at less than $100k—pretty much the definition of gentrification. I believe UVCC is "the community" which convinced UH to get rid of the Leek St. parking lots. They are currently looking into getting the city to institute residential parking permits, presumably to deter street parking by UH students. (That said, I hear from those who're in the know that UH athletes who park in the neighborhood are frequently robbed when returning to their cars after dark.)

UH owns the wooded land bordered by Wheeler, MLK, Spur 5, and OST/Alt 90. I haven't seen any of their master plans indicate any planned use of it though some campus maps color it as part of the "medical district" of campus, which would work well with Khator's goal of starting our own medical school. I've heard from people who would know, that it's university policy to not purchase any surrounding land. A theory is that Khator fears the university buying land will encourage developers to bring in gentrification at the expense of the historic Third Ward community. Judging by how consistently packed The Nook and it's neighbors are, UH needs more campus-adjacent food and beverage options. There aren't really any good places for this though except the empty lot across from the rec, currently temporarily occupied by The Gateway on Cullen leasing office. (UH is re-bidding of the campus food contract though after an internal audit recommended significant changes, such as making the Moody Towers dining hall into a 24-hour lounge with expanded power outlets and coffee options. The new contract would also include the choice of what to do with the old Chinese Star property, afaik. What effect this might have on The Nook et al.'s business is unclear.) With the continued growth of off campus student housing complexes though, enough students may spread far enough off campus to support development on OST south of the park or on Scott St. between Elgin and I-45. I imagine it'd be 2-4 years though before it's clear whether such investment would be warranted by developers.