Aviation university still 'thinking big' for Houston
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has decided not to open a $50 million residential campus that Houston area leaders had hoped to land for Ellington Airport, but will add three advanced degrees to its Houston-area offerings.
The Daytona Beach, Fla., university also will relocate its existing Houston-area campus from Space Center Boulevard to an existing building at Ellington.
Houston Airport System Director Mario Diaz said the school has long planned to expand in phases as it recruits more students. He said there are enough apartments in the Clear Lake area to house more Embry-Riddle students, so it doesn't need a campus with student housing.
"I am delighted at where we are with Embry-Riddle. What we need to do is to get on with the job of growing the student population here," Diaz said.
The university runs residential campuses in Daytona Beach and Prescott, Ariz.
Last year, Embry-Riddle President John Johnson toured Ellington Airport because university officials had planned to open a third campus where students would live as well as study. He was greeted by a marching band, local leaders and a "hay display" that spelled out ERAU, the school's initials.
About 1,000 students and 300 faculty and staff were expected to use the new campus.
Local leaders had offered to build Embry-Riddle a 5,000-square-foot hangar at Ellington, but Diaz said the university decided it doesn't need such a facility at this point.
The university provides instruction at more than 150 campuses in the world, including one in the Clear Lake area. It opened a campus in the Houston area in 1997 and moved to its current location on Space Center Boulevard in 2005.
Officials said they decided to expand some of those campuses instead of opening a third residential campus. The decision comes after the board heard the findings of a consulting company it hired.
"I'm absolutely thrilled with this announcement. It allows Embry-Riddle to come and establish a beachhead here," said Jeff Moseley, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership.
Mark Friend, Embry Riddle's dean of academic affairs for the central region, described the plan for Houston as a commuter school rather than a residential campus.
"We're doing a lot of the same things that we would have been doing had we decided to open a campus there," Friend said. "There will be a significant, noticeable expansion in Houston. No question about that. We're thinking big there."