Houston Community College’s governing board approved the sale of two properties on Feb. 23.

First, the Board of Trustees sold about 9 acres of unimproved land near Highway 288 and MacGregor to the City of Houston for $13.8 million. Second, the board sold three parking spaces at the West Loop campus to the Texas Department of Transportation for $32 thousand.

MacGregor Property.

The property was originally purchased to be HCC’s medical center campus, but with the development of the Coleman campus, HCC no longer needs this property.

The City of Houston will pay HCC $13,850,000 for the property, the same appraised value HCC purchased the land for in 2013.

In September 2015, the trustees declared the MacGregor property a surplus and authorized the chancellor to take action to sell the property. HCC has been in negotiations with the City of Houston and the college administration and the mayor have reached an agreement.

Seven trustees voted in favor of the sale, Zeph Capo was absent. Trustee Dave Wilson was the only trustee to vote against the sale, stating “The college has a history of making bad land deals, and I have a real bad feeling about this deal and it doesn’t pass the smell test to me. I can see this thing blowing up on us.”

West Loop Campus Parcel.

The Board of Trustees approved the sale of about 595 square feet located near the far western entrance of the 16 acre West Loop campus for $32 thousand.

Due to the Texas Department of Transportation’s reconstruction and improvements to Loop 610 and U.S. 59, TXDot needs the parcel for the placement of a high mass light structure. The college administration believes that the light fixture will not adversely the rest of the West Loop campus, Board Chair Eva Loredo even pointed out that it will add more light to the HCC parking lot.

The administration also believes that the loss of three parking spaces is trivial. A new campus parking garage was recently completed.

As a state agency, TXDot has the power of eminent domain and acceptance of the $32,384 offer will avoid condemnation proceedings against HCC for the parcel.

Trustee Dave Wilson objected to the sale of the parking spaces for $50 per square foot when according to Wilson the adjacent Conn’s property was purchased by HCC for $100 per square foot. However, Chancellor Cesar Mandando clarified that the Conn’s property at the West Loop campus was purchased for about $65 per square foot and subsequently Trustee Wilson voted to approve the sale of the parking spaces.

Seven trustees voted in favor of the sale, Zeph Capo and Adriana Tamez were absent.

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Editor’s note: this story originally appeared in the March 8, 2017 print edition titled ‘Land Deal: HCC sells nine-acre plot to city’