Sheldon’s surge
New school campus is another sign of growth for the rapidly developing northeast area inside Beltway 8
WHEN construction begins this month on a sprawling public school campus for students in the Sheldon area northeast of Houston, it will be the latest in a string of large projects for the fastest-growing ZIP code inside Beltway 8.
The 580,000-square-foot K-12 campus on 267 acres will follow the Generation Park commercial development and a slew of new subdivisions that have sprung up steadily since that vital traffic artery was expanded eight years ago. Consequently, ZIP code 77044 ranks No. 1 in the region for growth; Sheldon Independent School District ranks behind only Tomball for growth in Harris County.
Planners say the trend is likely to continue.
“The growth kind of took off over the past few years,” Sheldon ISD Superintendent King Davis said. “We’re starting to plan for that.”
The area’s growth outpaced the city of Houston’s as the population swelled 13 percent in five years, to 11,515 in 2014, census figures show. The schools, which serve a broader area, grew even faster — by 23 percent over the past five years — while adding 500 new students each of the past two years. There were just under 9,000 students at the end of 2016.
Generation Park, a 25-year project that broke ground in 2014 about 2 miles north of the planned school campus, already has added 1,500 employees from FMC Technologies alone.
Also in the works are a 57acre campus for San Jacinto College, an 8.3-acre Lone Star College System Process Technology Center, a Courtyard
Marriott Hotel and various retail and restaurant businesses.
Davis said plenty of empty land remains in his district. So the school project will be not just one of the most visible, with an entrance off Beltway 8, but also one of the most necessary for a still-expanding region.
“Beltway 8 on the east side of Houston is ripe for development,” said JP Grom, vice president of LAN, the school program manager. “This project is incredibly visible. It will serve as a very visual anchor point for Sheldon ISD.”
The campus, funded by a $285 million bond program passed in 2016, will sport an elementary school, a high school (replacing C.E. King High, the district’s only one), a natatorium, a sports stadium, an indoor practice facility and open outdoor areas.
Grom also said he doesn’t expect the district to develop all the acreage, and that some space will be sold for residential development, creating a campus “woven into the fabric of the community.”
The space was designed with a university vibe in mind, said Kerri Ranney, director of planning and strategic development for Huckabee, The Woodlands-based architecture firm that designed the space. Part of that design included plaza space and buildings connected by outdoor walkways instead of hallways, she said.
The campus will feature distinct spaces for six academies in which high school students will enroll: busi- ness and industry; human services; public service; agriculture, manufacturing and construction; science, technology, fine arts and math; and an early college academy for traditional academics.
Those academies will meet growing demand for vocational and career education, Davis said, helping students train for industries that have seen a dwindling skilled workforce through recent decades.