Opening the door to more opportunities

James F. Gaertner

Our city, as expressed through our elected City Council, will soon be called upon to make a decision that will have a significant impact on the future quality of life in Huntsville.

Obviously, the decision to which I refer is whether or not to support the proposed Ravenwood Village retail development plan. My purpose in writing this editorial is to provide my perspective on the decision.

First, let me discuss this impending decision from the point of view of Sam Houston State University. A large number of our almost 16,000 students are from middle and lower income families, which results in over 70 percent of these young people being required to work as they attend college. Because of the very limited employment opportunities in Huntsville, the overwhelming majority of our working students “go south” to Conroe, The Woodlands or Houston to find employment. This exodus of students, not only on weekends but for weekday jobs as well, is more than an inconvenience; it is a safety issue as well as a resource drain from our community.

Many of our students would be ideal candidates for the over 500 new jobs that Ravenwood Village is projecting.

Over the past three years, Sam Houston State has hired approximately 175 new faculty members to support our student growth. Many of these new faculty members and their spouses and young families would be ideal new residents of our community.

However, over two-thirds of these new faculty members choose to live outside of Huntsville, often in The Woodlands or a suburb of Conroe. This was not the case 20 years ago and before, when the vast majority of new faculty made Huntsville their permanent home. When asked why they chose not to live in Huntsville, the common answers are “quality of life” and “employment opportunities for my spouse.”

By not having the resources in our community to attract these young, well educated, professional citizens, we are not only missing out on the economic boost that they would bring to Huntsville, we are missing out on having their children in our schools, and having the benefit of their expertise and leadership in our community. It seems to me that it is important that we work hard, not to stay the same, but to make our community better by bringing in new well-qualified citizens who will help to lead our community in the future.

In assessing the potential of Ravenwood Village from the point of view of a business proposition, the appeal of the project is compelling.

Slightly over five years ago, Sam Houston State made the business decision to invest in several new student housing projects. Some in the city were critical that this move would seriously damage apartment owners in Huntsville. Our response was that the investment in new student housing would attract more students and result in an increased demand for all apartments (as well as all other business services).

Since that time we have invested over $50 million of university resources in new student housing. All of our new student apartments are overbooked, and the result for the private sector is that many new apartments have been built to meet the excess demand created by the influx of students.

Over the past five years, Sam Houston State has made the business decision to invest in over $150 million of new infrastructure, including dormitories, academic buildings, parking facilities, athletic and general purpose facilities. All of these university projects have proven to be successful, and none had the assurances or the “upside potential” that is provided by the developers of the Ravenwood Village project.

With the opportunity for unprecedented increases in tax revenues for our city, county, hospital district and school district, and for the lessening of the tremendous retail leakage from our city, Ravenwood Village certainly appears to be an excellent opportunity for Huntsville from a business investment perspective.

After serious inquiry and study in assessing the Ravenwood Village project from a perspective of benefit to Sam Houston State, from a quality of life perspective for Huntsville, and from a business risk versus reward standpoint, I am in strong support of the project.



JAMES F. GAERTNER, President

Sam Houston State University

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