Memorial City, Houston facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Memorial City
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District of Houston, Texas
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Memorial City sign
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| Etymology: Memorial, Houston | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Texas |
| County | Harris County |
| City |  Houston |
| District created | 1999 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 340 ha (850 acre) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 4,422 |
| ZIP Code |
77024, 77055
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Memorial City is a commercial district in the Memorial area of Houston, Texas, United States. Located along Interstate 10 (Katy Freeway) between Beltway 8 and Bunker Hill Road, the district is anchored by Memorial City Mall, the nation's 38th-largest shopping mall; Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center; CityCentre, a high-density mixed-use development; and Town & Country Village, a shopping center. Large portions of Memorial City are owned by development firm MetroNational, which has developed 265 acres (107 hectares) in the area, including the entirety of the mall.
Memorial City is a significant regional employment center with over 6.1 million square feet (570,000 m2) of retail and 8.3 million square feet (770,000 m2) of office space. The district's businesses employ over 47,000 people. Memorial City Mall attracts approximately 20 million visitors per year. The district's growing residential population houses over 4,400 people, largely concentrated in a series of high-density apartment complexes.
A portion of Memorial City is serviced by the Memorial City Management District, a special governmental district which provides branding and infrastructure funding. The management district was created by the Texas Legislature in 1999.
Contents
History
The Texas Legislature created the Memorial Management District in 1999.
By July 2009 the district planned to create identifying markers to mark the area as Memorial City. In late 2009, the district installed four five-story obelisks with lighted tops along Interstate 10. The $548,000 ($747496.82 when adjusted for inflation) used to fund the improvements originated from commercial businesses within the district boundaries subjected to assessments for improvement.
Cityscape
The district is along Interstate 10 between Beltway 8 and Bunker Hill Road. While consisting mainly of retail, medical and office complexes, the district includes four apartment complexes with a combined total of 988 units. One, the Terrace at Memorial City, is only for senior citizens. The Villas at Bunker Hill is located north of the Memorial City district boundary at the southwest corner of Bunker Hill and Pine Lake Drive.
As is the case in several of the special management districts of Houston, Memorial City uses street name signage of a different graphic design style and color scheme than the standard white-on-green signs used in many neighborhoods throughout the city.
Demographics
A 2006 demographic projection stated that 4,324 people lived within the district. The population lived in 1,756 households. Of the population, 2,371 (54.8%) were Hispanic, 1,529 (35.4%) were non-Hispanic White, 283 (6.5%) were Asian, 72 (1.7%) were African-American, and 11 (0.3%) were Native American. There were no Pacific Islanders living in Memorial City. 2,878 residents were over 24 years of age.
The same demographic projection stated that 1,388,425 people lived within the 10 miles (16 km) "commute zone." The population lived in 535,249 households. Of the commute zone population, 513,362 (37%) were non-Hispanic White, 493,336 (35.5%) were Hispanic, 231,020 (16.6%) were African-American, 121,876 (8.8%) were Asian, 25,189 (1.8%) were Other, 2767 (0.2%) were Native American, and 874 (0.1%) were Pacific Islander. 894,500 were over 24 years of age.
Transportation
Interstate 10 (Katy Freeway) bisects the Memorial City district and provides east-west access. Beltway 8 provides major regional north-south access. Gessner Road provides additional north-south access.
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas provides public transportation. The 72 Westview routesp connects Memorial City with Spring Branch. The 70 Memorial route connects Memorial City to Northwest Transit Center. via Memorial Drive; this allows people living in other parts of Houston to transfer in Downtown to the 160,161 and 162 routes servicing Memorial City. The 160 Memorial City Express connects Memorial City to Downtown via Northwest Transit Center.The 161 Wilcrest Express connects Memorial City to Downtown and Wilcrest Drive, the 162 Memorial Express connects Memorial City to Downtown the western Memorial Drive area. The 46 Gessner route connects Memorial City to Spring Branch, Westchase, and Sharpstown via Gessner Road. The 39 Katy Freeway route connects Britoak Lane to Northwest Transit Center via the Katy Freeway service road. The 26 Long Point/ Cavalcade, which terminates here alongside the 160, connects to the Hempstead Transit Center and Kashmere Transit Center via Long Point Road and Cavalcade Street.
Economy
Many of Memorial City's employees live and work within a 10-mile (16 km) radius of the intersection of Interstate 10 and Gessner Road, covering portions of suburban Harris County and Fort Bend County. The three largest employers include Memorial City Mall, with 5,000 local employees, the Chase Bank Service Center, with 1,100 local employees, and the CEMEX United States operations, with 1,000 local employees.
There are 24 retail centers in the district which each have more than 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of space, making a total of 3,620,000 square feet (336,000 m2) of space. The Memorial City Mall has over half of the retail space in the district, with 1,900,000 square feet (180,000 m2) of space. There were no gross retail sales figures for the Memorial City area that were available from public published sources, so the district used the publication the average sales per square foot statistics for shopping centers in the Southern United States stated in the publication "Dollars & Cents of Shopping Centers/The SCORE 2006." To calculate sales of single tenant big box stores, the district used average national sales data for specific stores such as Great Indoors, Home Depot, and Sam's Club. Using the data the district estimated that its annual retail sales were $1.1 billion in 2006 dollars, making an average of about $300 per square foot.
There are 20 office buildings with a total of 2,900,000 square feet (270,000 m2) of space. Most of the buildings are multi-tenant, while some, such as the Chase Service Center, each have a single tenant. 11 distribution, industrial, and warehouse facilities in Memorial City have a total of about 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2) of space. Three hotels, the Candlewood Suites ‐ Houston‐Town and Country, the Four Points by Sheraton Houston, Memorial City (formerly the Radisson Suites Hotel West) and the Westin Houston Memorial City are located in the district. The Westin, with 250 rooms, is located between the Memorial City Mall and the Memorial City Hospital. 75 residential units are on the top floors of the hotel.
Group 1 Automotive has its corporate headquarters in One Memorial City Plaza. Dow Chemical operates a purchasing office in Suite 600 at Two Memorial City Plaza. The office, which opened on 1990, has operations involving co-product marketing, energy and hydrocarbons purchasing, optimization and pipeline activities, and polypropylene commercial and corporate auditing. Sumitomo Corporation operates its Houston Office in Suite 1000 in Three Memorial City Plaza at 840 Gessner Road. Industries supported by the office include Chemicals, Plastics, and Tubular Products.
Education
Higher education
Houston Community College (HCC) operates the Spring Branch Campus (formerly the Town and Country Campus), a part of the Northwest College. The campus is in Memorial City, at the northeast corner of Beltway 8 and Interstate 10. The facility was known as the Town and Country Campus until 2009. The college is inside the former Town and Country Mall. In 1999 a former 112,000-square-foot (10,400 m2) AMC Theatres and KMart building in Town and Country was re-tenanted to HCC. HCC signed its lease to occupy portions of the Town & Country Square Shopping Center in 1999. During that year the owners of the Town & Country Square Shopping Center filed a lawsuit against HCC for trying to stop a Barnes & Noble from opening in the shopping center premises.
Other colleges and universities within the commute zone include other HCC campuses and Houston Baptist University.
Primary and secondary schools
The residential space within Memorial City is within the Spring Branch Independent School District.
Residents south of Interstate 10 are zoned to Wildcat Way School in Houston for preschool. Residents north of Interstate 10 are zoned to Tiger Trail School. Three elementary schools, Bunker Hill Elementary School in the City of Bunker Hill Village, Frostwood Elementary School in the City of Bunker Hill Village, and Shadow Oaks Elementary School in Houston serve sections of Memorial City. Residents north of I-10 are zoned to Spring Oaks Middle School in Houston, while residents south of I-10 are zoned to Memorial Middle School in Houston. Residents south of I-10 are zoned to Memorial High School in the City of Hedwig Village while residents north of I-10 are zoned to Spring Woods High School in Houston.
Adult educational attainment statistics
A 2006 demographic projection said that of the 2,878 Memorial City residents over 24 years of age, 522 (18.2%) had less than a 9th grade education, 383 (13.3%) had some high school education but did not possess a high school diploma, 582 (20.2%) had graduated from high school or received a GED, 515 (17.9%) attended college but did not have a degree, 104 (3.6%) had an associate degree, 520 (18.1%) had a bachelor's degree, 158 (5.5%) had a master's degree, 67 (2.3%) had a professional school degree, and 27 (0.9%) had a doctorate degree.
The same projection said that of the residents of the 894,500 Memorial City commute zone over 24 years of age, 91,249 (10.2%) had less than a 9th grade education, 94,688 (10.6%) had some high school education but did not possess a high school diploma, 160,757 (18%) had graduated from high school or received a GED, 184,495 (20.6%) attended college but did not have a degree, 43,150 (4.8%) had an associate degree, 207,704 (23.2%) had a bachelor's degree, 67,755 (7.6%) had a master's degree, 30,984 (3.5%) had a professional school degree, and 13,718 (1.5%) had a doctorate degree.
