University of St. Thomas Campus Developments

[Avossos]

Is this the Hines project?

[Jax]

Not that I know of. The builder is Fretz. The architect is Kirksey. Here's some more info: http://www.stthom.edu/Public/Index.asp?0=0&page_id=3618&Source_URL=%2FAbout%2FOnline_Newsroom%2FNews_Features.aqf%3FNewsScriptAction%3DAdvanced_Search%26AQ_Year%3D2014&Content_ID=104348

[Urbannizer]

Demolition now underway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by alex-s on Flickr

[toxtethogrady]

 

"Hey, look! The Komatsaurus is feeding."

[Urbannizer]

 

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/west_university/news/ust-to-build-new-health-and-sciences-building/article_23d7b569-1538-570d-aacf-84dc7cc2f687.html

 

 

 

The University of Saint Thomas (UST) has unveiled plans for a new four-story building to house the Center for Science and Health Professions. Due to the continued growth of the university's science programs and the re-opening of the nursing school, the university has outgrown existing facilities.

 

The building is the result of an intensive capital campaign, raising more than $47.3 million to fund the project.

The University now plans to continue to raise an additional $8.5 million to outfit the new Center’s Chemistry labs, as well as secure funding for a new Performing Arts Center.

The University is expected to break ground on the Center for Science and Health Professions in November and is expected to begin classes in May of 2017.

[Urbannizer]

 

http://montrosedistrict.org/university-of-st-thomas-to-break-ground-on-state-of-the-art-science-center/

 

The most visible product of the capital campaign will be the $50 million Center for Science and Health Professions, a four-story, 100,000-square-foot facility that will house UST’s biology and chemistry departments and the Carol and Odis Peavy School of Nursing, along with classrooms and state-of-the-art science labs. Groundbreaking for the CSHP will be held on November 12, with a grand opening scheduled for the spring of 2017.

[Urbannizer]

c/o USTHouston via Twitter

[hindesky]

Steel frameworks going up.

 

 

[Urbannizer]

Via Flickr:

 

Colquitt St @ Yoakum Blvd by Alex Steffler, on Flickr

 

Colquitt Street - University of St. Thomas's new nursing school by Alex Steffler, on Flickr

[Naviguessor]

So, swamplot was showing renderings from the initial design revealed in Nov 2014.  This building under construction is totally different, right? 

[hindesky]

Southeast corner.

 

[hindesky]

Topped out, the crawler crane is being dismantled.

 

 

[Urbannizer]

Subdivision plat filed for the Link Lee Mansion block.

SubdivisionPlatPDF_Link Lee Mansion.pdf

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

The brick looks nice.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[Urbannizer]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hindesky]

[Urbannizer]

Student Housing complex coming to the corner Branard and Graustark

 

SubdivisionPlatPDF_University of St Thomas_Lancaster plat.pdf

 

[Highrise Tower]

University of St. Thomas Sets Stage for Major ‘Renewal’

https://news.stthom.edu/university-of-st-thomas-sets-stage-for-major-renewal/

 

Quote

Although the University is fortunate to have a nine-figure endowment, significant real estate holdings in the Montrose neighborhood, and a growing student population, it is operating on an outdated business model.

 

Private Houston university plans to restructure business model

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2019/08/13/private-houston-university-plans-to-restructure.html

 

Quote

 

By 2023, the university will have facilities and infrastructure that foster and support campus engagement based on a master plan that addresses its facility needs in the light of enrollment goals, anticipated student life needs, changing learning technologies and the desire to cultivate a culture of encounter across the university community. 

 

By 2023, the university will have facilities and infrastructure that meet our evolving needs for learning and research at or above levels exceeding that of its peer institutions. 

 

 

[mkultra25]

1 hour ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

University of St. Thomas Sets Stage for Major ‘Renewal’

https://news.stthom.edu/university-of-st-thomas-sets-stage-for-major-renewal/

 

 

Private Houston university plans to restructure business model

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2019/08/13/private-houston-university-plans-to-restructure.html

 

 

 

From Google's cache, for those that don't have an HBJ subscription:

 

Private Houston university plans to restructure business model

 

Reducing the number of tenured faculty doesn't sound too great. And I have to wonder why they would pursue expansion into Conroe if they've been running a budget deficit for the past several years. Hopefully they're able to get back to financial stability. 

[Texasota]

uh...none of those things sound remotely promising...

[Luminare]

11 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

 

From Google's cache, for those that don't have an HBJ subscription:

 

Private Houston university plans to restructure business model

 

Reducing the number of tenured faculty doesn't sound too great. And I have to wonder why they would pursue expansion into Conroe if they've been running a budget deficit for the past several years. Hopefully they're able to get back to financial stability. 

 

If you follow university trends then this wouldn't be a shock. Many universities are restructuring in this way. Less tenured professors and more adjuncts instead. Most of these cost saving measures are due to the fact that Admin staff and hiring has gotten ridiculous. As students ask their universities to cater to their whims and protections more and more universities are having to over-inflate their admin staffs like crazy just to keep up and head off any potential personal, mental, social, or cultural problems that a student might have on campus. These are things universities never wanted to get into, but due to current societal and cultural pressures are pouring money into. Its not a great trend. I'm not one for bashing generations, but this is an exclusive Generation Z issue. Everyone always blames my gen for these issues (Millennials), but its really Gen Z.

[Texasota]

Adjuncts are seriously overworked and underpaid (and, in notable opposition to tenured faculty, have basically zero protections), so this is a terrible trend.

 

Blaming the next generation isn't terribly helpful though. Ultimately these are decisions made by the University, and from my (indirect) experience inflating admin staff is only part of the problem at most schools.

[DNAguy]

34 minutes ago, Luminare said:

 

If you follow university trends then this wouldn't be a shock. Many universities are restructuring in this way. Less tenured professors and more adjuncts instead. Most of these cost saving measures are due to the fact that Admin staff and hiring has gotten ridiculous. As students ask their universities to cater to their whims and protections more and more universities are having to over-inflate their admin staffs like crazy just to keep up and head off any potential personal, mental, social, or cultural problems that a student might have on campus. These are things universities never wanted to get into, but due to current societal and cultural pressures are pouring money into. Its not a great trend. I'm not one for bashing generations, but this is an exclusive Generation Z issue. Everyone always blames my gen for these issues (Millennials), but its really Gen Z.

 

Yeah.... I'm going to have to call foul.

 

Scapegoating the youngest generation for the failings of previous generations is tired trope. As a millennial, you're just falling into the trap now that a new kid is on the block. Tisk, tisk. Like you said, boomers have been blaming Millennials for 10+ years now for pretty much all the stuff they've done. 

 

The real reason is tax $ and government policy of at least the last two decades. Plain and simple:

 

As more and more states have reduced education spending and support for universities, the cost of education has gone up to make up the difference.

 

The ability to take out essentially endless amounts of $ to fund your education has led to no downward pressure on university prices. And to attract this seemingly endless supply of students, an arms race of facilities / amenities took off.... which then caused education to further rise and creating a sort of synergism on rising prices.

 

In addition, universities (and especially smaller, private ones) began to rely on foreign students who paid the full price tag to cover their increased costs. Globalism and a rising India & China seem to produce an endless supply of these students willing (or at least their governments were) to pay full freight.

 

More and more people have kept taking out larger and larger loans.... more and more students from around the world came.... until recently.

 

The debt burden has grown so large that the return on the investment doesn't make sense to people anymore… especially for smaller, private liberal arts schools.

 

Recent government policies around immigration and the rise in credible educational institutions around the world (like in the gulf and China) has had a chilling effect on foreign students willing to come here …. and pay full way.

 

That's why St. Thomas has to reduce costs.

They've incurred large amounts of debt w/ the investment of new facilities.

More and more people are asking whether going there makes sense when it cost so much. 

Less people paying full sticker price.

If they don't start getting ahead of this, they will cease to exist.

 

 

[Luminare]

27 minutes ago, DNAguy said:

 

Yeah.... I'm going to have to call foul.

 

Scapegoating the youngest generation for the failings of previous generations is tired trope. As a millennial, you're just falling into the trap now that a new kid is on the block. Tisk, tisk. Like you said, boomers have been blaming Millennials for 10+ years now for pretty much all the stuff they've done. 

 

The real reason is tax $ and government policy of at least the last two decades. Plain and simple:

 

As more and more states have reduced education spending and support for universities, the cost of education has gone up to make up the difference.

 

The ability to take out essentially endless amounts of $ to fund your education has led to no downward pressure on university prices. And to attract this seemingly endless supply of students, an arms race of facilities / amenities took off.... which then caused education to further rise and creating a sort of synergism on rising prices.

 

In addition, universities (and especially smaller, private ones) began to rely on foreign students who paid the full price tag to cover their increased costs. Globalism and a rising India & China seem to produce an endless supply of these students willing (or at least their governments were) to pay full freight.

 

More and more people have kept taking out larger and larger loans.... more and more students from around the world came.... until recently.

 

The debt burden has grown so large that the return on the investment doesn't make sense to people anymore… especially for smaller, private liberal arts schools.

 

Recent government policies around immigration and the rise in credible educational institutions around the world (like in the gulf and China) has had a chilling effect on foreign students willing to come here …. and pay full way.

 

That's why St. Thomas has to reduce costs.

They've incurred large amounts of debt w/ the investment of new facilities.

More and more people are asking whether going there makes sense when it cost so much. 

Less people paying full sticker price.

If they don't start getting ahead of this, they will cease to exist.

 

 

 

Yikes. Chill. You obviously didn't read the part where I said that it isn't typical for me to bash one generation over the other. Each generation has its own issues. Some are because of the previous and some are squarely on the current one. What I said before though is a truism of Gen Z just like there are truisms about my generation that aren't great either. Just tone it down a tad. I agree with your points though. The current university woes is a multi variant problem that is from seemingly all angles. In the truest sense of the phrase, it is what would be called a "wicked problem" that nobody has a real answer too, at least to attack the whole problem as a whole. Many know how to change things in pieces, but its a hard one to solve. None of those discussions can take place though if we don't acknowledge faults and some of those faults can be place on Gen Z just like there are faults that can be placed on Millennials and Gen X who are the parents of Gen Z.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Luminare

[Texasota]

Surely we can all just agree that this, like everything else, is the baby boomers' fault?