GreaterSharpstownBellaireBlvdApproachSign

Southwest Management District, formerly Greater Sharpstown Management District, is a district in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The district is split into 6 neighborhoods: Sharpstown,

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

, Mahatma Gandhi District/Little India, Westwood, Harwin, and

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. It is governed by a management district which is created by the

Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a p ...

History

Construction of the Sharpstown community, the namesake of the district, began circa 1955.History & Demographics
" Greater Sharpstown Management District. Retrieved on December 29, 2010. The

approved the formation of the Greater Sharpstown Management District in 2005. On August 20, 2000. Houston METRO provided its first 24-hour bus service from Downtown to Sharpstown Center. However, due to financial difficulties in building light rail, they had to discontinue the 1:35 am, 2:35 am, and 3:33 am eastbound trips. The last trip from Downtown would leave at 1:05 am, and the First trip at Harwin and Reims would start at 4:00 am Effective January 26, 2003. They have not brought back 24 hour service since then. After

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

struck

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, the zip code 77036 received the largest concentration of Katrina evacuees of any area in the city. 5,991 Katrina evacuees moved into over 2,600 apartment units. Within a wider area, from the 610 Loop to the Houston city limits and from Westpark Drive to

U.S. Highway 90A U.S. Highway 90 Alternate is an alternate route to U.S. Highway 90 in Texas, United States, running from west of Seguin east via Seguin, Gonzales, Hallettsville, Eagle Lake, Rosenberg and Sugar Land to northeastern Houston. South of Dow ...

(South Main), 23,000 Katrina evacuees settled there.Turner, Allan.
Evacuees landed in high-crime ZIP codes
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

''. Friday January 20, 2006. Retrieved on October 23, 2011. On May 31, 2013, the

Houston Fire Department City of Houston Fire Department (HFD) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Houston, Texas, United States, the fourth largest city in the United States. HFD is responsible for preserving life a ...

suffered its largest casualty in a single event, the Southwest Inn fire, with four firefighters killed and 13 others were injured while fighting a 5-alarm fire at Southwest Inn, located in Greater Sharpstown.Map Major Roads
"
Archive
Greater Sharpstown Management District. Retrieved on August 15, 2009.

Cityscape

The district consists of around of land, bounded by the

Westpark Tollway The Westpark Tollway, also Fort Bend Westpark Tollway, is a controlled-access toll road in Texas, serving western Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in th ...

to the north,

Interstate 69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of eight unconnected segments. The longest segment runs from Evansville, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, and includ ...

U.S. Route 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south U.S. highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. Highway System, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway System. It par ...

and Bissonnet to the south,

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County, Texas, Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway mai ...

to the west, and Hillcroft to the east.About the District
" Greater Sharpstown. Retrieved on June 1, 2010. I-69/U.S. 59, the Westpark Tollway, and Beltway 8 are the main transit arteries. The main commercial arteries of the district are

Bellaire Boulevard Bellaire Boulevard (also known as Holcombe, and as 百利大道 ''Bǎilì Dàdào'' in Chinese and ''Đại Lộ Sàigòn'' in Vietnamese) is an arterial road in western Houston, Texas, United States. The street also goes through unincorporated ...

and Interstate 69/U.S. Route 59. The management district government estimates that the district is 15 minutes driving time from

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45 ...

. The district has about 8,000 single-family houses and 7,000 condominiums and townhouses. Greater Sharpstown includes the Sharpstown subdivision, the portion of

inside

, a portion of Forum Park, and other nearby subdivisions.Rodriguez, Lori.
Opinions vary over naming the growing Asian community on Houston's southwest side
"

. Alternate version without Chinatown map:
DIVERSITY DEBATE / Chinatown outgrowing name / Opinions vary over naming the growing Asian community on Houston's southwest side
" ''

''. Wednesday May 9, 2007. A1. The district is divided into several zones, including:Slide1dh2-820x345.jpg
" Greater Sharpstown Management District. Retrieved on December 29, 2010. * Chinatown (the portion of

within Greater Sharpstown) * Harwin * Sharpstown * South Asia * University * Westwood ( Westwood Mall area) In 2010 the district announced that it will implement new and distinctly designed street signage to mark the various zones within Greater Sharpstown (replacing the existing standard city of Houston signage); installation began in the late winter of 2011.

Demographics

As of 2010 Greater Sharpstown has about 94,500 residents. Among the district residents are

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

Chinese Americans Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

Hispanic Americans Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spaniards, Spanish or Latin Americans, Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino (demonym), ...

Vietnamese Americans Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth ...

. Up until the late 1980s

White American White Americans (sometimes also called Caucasian Americans) are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as " person having ...

s were the majority. Many former residents left, going to

First Colony First Colony is a master-planned community in Fort Bend County, Texas. The community, with approximately 50,000 residents,Kaplan, David.Blending elegance and fast food" ''Houston Chronicle''. May 13, 2010. Retrieved on May 14, 2010. encompasses ...

Missouri City Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, an increase ...

, Pearland,

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

, and

Sugar Land Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

as the City of Houston expanded.

Economy

National Oilwell Varco NOV Inc., formerly National Oilwell Varco, is an American multinational corporation based in Houston, Texas. It is a worldwide provider of equipment and components used in oil and gas drilling and production operations, oilfield services, and ...

has its headquarters in Greater Sharpstown.

MetroCorp Bancshares MetroCorp Bancshares, Inc. (MetroCorp, Nasdaq: MCBI) was an American banking corporation headquartered in Chinatown and in Greater Sharpstown in Houston, Texas.Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

Southwestern National Bank Southwestern National Bank ( zh, t=美南銀行) is a United States–based community bank with headquarters in Houston, Texas, that focuses on Asian Americans. Southwestern National Bank currently has branch locations within the Texas and Cali ...

also has its headquarters in Chinatown and Greater Sharpstown. La Subasta Inc. (formerly El Día, Inc.), which publishes ' and which published '' El Día'', has its offices in Greater Sharpstown.

KPRC-TV KPRC-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Graham Media Group. Its studios are located on Southwest Freeway (I-69/ US 59) in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greate ...

has its studios in Greater Sharpstown. The

China Airlines China Airlines (CAL; zh, t=中華航空, poj=Tiong-hôa Hâng-khong, p=Zhōnghuá Hángkōng, first=t, c=, s=) is the state-owned flag carrier of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan). It is one of Taiwan's two major airlines, along with E ...

Houston Mini Office (Chinese: 休士顿营业所, Pinyin: ''Xiūshìdùn Yíngyèsuǒ'') is located in 2 Arena Place in the

Arena Place Arena Place is a complex including two office towers and a theater located in Sharpstown, Southwest Management District, Houston, Texas. Prior to its dissolution,

A.D. Vision A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gr ...

, an anime and manga company, was headquartered in Greater Sharpstown.Contact ADV
" ''A.D. Vision''. Retrieved on May 8, 2009.

Government

Management district

The district headquarters are located in Suite 109 at 9788 Clarewood Drive. The management district is governed by a board of directors, and board meetings are held once every month in the district headquarters.

Municipal government

Most of Greater Sharpstown is in

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. The Council has sixteen members: eleven from council districts and five elected at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, wi ...

District J. District J was created to allow Hispanics to more easily elect representatives who cater to them. Some of it is in city council district F. The

operates fire services in Greater Sharpstown, with the primary run area of Fire District 68 covering a lot of territory in Greater Sharpstown. Fire stations located within the district boundaries include Station 51 Sharpstown, a part of Fire District 68, and Station 10 Bellaire, a part of Fire District 83. Station 51 opened in 1962. Since then it had two facelifts and a renovation in the financial year of 1999. Station 10, previously located in what is now East Downtown, relocated to its current location in the new

and in Greater Sharpstown in 1985.Welcome to EaDo
"

East Downtown Management District East Downtown Houston (EaDo) is a district in Houston, Texas. The East Downtown Management District (EDMD), manages the area with offices headquartered at START Houston, a co-working space 1121 Delano Street. The community is located east of Do ...

. Retrieved on August 1, 2009. Station 68 Braeburn Glen, adjacent to the district, opened in 1973. The neighborhood is served by three

Houston Police Department The Houston Police Department (HPD) is the primary municipal law enforcement agency serving the city of Houston, Texas, United States, and some surrounding areas. With approximately 5,300 officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel it is the fi ...

patrol divisions. Most areas north and west of

are served by the Midwest Patrol Division, while the far western portion of Greater Sharpstown is served by the Westside Patrol Division. Areas south and east of U.S. 59 are served by the Fondren Patrol Division. The portion that is now in the Midwest Patrol Division was formerly in the Westside Patrol Division. The Midwest division operates the Ranchester Storefront along

in the new Chinatown and in Greater Sharpstown. VOLUNTEER INITIATIVES PROGRAM - Citizens Offering Police Support
" ''City of Houston''. Retrieved on September 23, 2008.
"

. Retrieved on May 27, 2010. The Midwest Patrol Division headquarters are located in a building in the district.Welcome to the city's newest Police Station.

. Retrieved on April 28, 2010. The city purchased the building, a former business college, in November 2007. The operations in the facility began on March 1, 2010. The process of the purchase and renovation was a two-year project. The official grand opening of the station was held on April 27, 2010. The station has 159 police officers and civilians assigned to the patrol division, one investigative first responder (IFR) squad, and two narcotics squads. The facility has available furnished space for two additional investigative squads and of unfurnished space for future expansion. The building has a room which functions as a public meeting room and an in-service training room which seats up to 80 people. The facility has a gymnasium, a jail lockup for class C prisoners, down rooms for men and women, a break room, a kitchenette, full-sized lockers for the employees, an emergency generator, an ice machine, and hurricane supplies. The City of Houston Health Department operates the Sharpstown Health Services clinic.

County government

Harris Health System The Harris Health System, previously the Harris County Hospital District (HCHD), is a governmental entity with taxing authority that owns and operates three hospitals and numerous clinics throughout Harris County, Texas, United States, includ ...

(formerly Harris County Hospital District) designated Valbona Health Center (formerly People's Health Center) in Greater Sharpstown for ZIP code 77074. The nearest public hospital is

Ben Taub General Hospital Ben Taub Hospital is a public hospital located in Houston, Texas within the Texas Medical Center. Having opened in May 1963, the hospital is owned and operated by the Harris Health System and is staffed by the faculty, residents, and students fr ...

in the

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a List of neighborhoods in Houston, neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States. It is immediately south of the Houston Museum District, Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 6 ...

State representation

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department (formerly of the

Texas Youth Commission The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) was a Texas state agency which operated juvenile corrections facilities in the state. The commission was headquartered in the Brown-Heatly Building in Austin. As of 2007, it was the second largest juvenile correc ...

) Houston District Office is located in Greater Sharpstown.

Culture

In 2007, the group Neighborhood Centers Inc. announced that it would build the Gulfton Neighborhood Campus at the intersection of Rookin Street and High Star Drive when it raises $20 million.Friedberg, Jennifer.
Funds sought for Gulfton center
" ''

''. January 30, 2007. Retrieved on December 13, 2008. The Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center, the neighborhood center at the intersection in Greater Sharpstown, was scheduled to open in December 2009.Rogers, Susan.
A New Center on the Periphery
" ''Cite''. Rice Design Alliance, (Northern Hemisphere) Fall 2009. 24. Retrieved on March 3, 2010.Rogers, Susan.
A New Center on the Periphery
" ''Cite''. Rice Design Alliance, (Northern Hemisphere) Fall 2009. 23. Retrieved on March 3, 2010.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

About 73% of the area of Greater Sharpstown is in the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest Public school (government funded), public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the ci ...

(HISD), while the remaining 27% is within the

Alief Independent School District Alief Independent School District, also known as Alief ISD, is a school district that is based in southwest Houston, Texas, United States. The district is one of the largest school districts in the state and one of the largest school district ...

(AISD). The HISD section is served by multiple schools. Bonham, Neff, Sutton, and Ed White elementary schools are in the district. Secondary schools in that district in the SWMD are Sugar Grove Middle School, Jane Long Academy (6-12),

Sharpstown High School Sharpstown High School is a secondary school at 7504 Bissonnet Street in Greater Sharpstown, Houston, Houston, Texas, United States with a zip code of 77074. It serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District. ...

, and Sharpstown International School (6-12). A portion of the district is zoned to Sharpstown High. A portion of the district is served by

Margaret Long Wisdom High School Margaret Long Wisdom High School, formerly Robert E. Lee High School, is a publicly funded secondary school located in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States 77057. The Houston Independent School District, the 7th largest school district in the ...

(formerly Robert E. Lee High School) outside of the district. The Long campus houses the Las Américas Newcomer School. Sharpstown International is a

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...

. Liberty High School, an alternative high school for recent immigrants, was from 2017 on the campus of Sharpstown International. In 2022 it moved to the

Houston Community College Houston Community College (HCC), also known as the Houston Community College System (HCCS), is a community college that operates community colleges in Houston, Texas, Houston, Missouri City, Texas, Missouri City, Greater Katy, and Stafford, Texas ...

(HCC) Gulfton Campus. - See the scrolling panels for the address. There are three Alief ISD elementary schools in the district: Best, Audrey Judy Bush, and Collins. Chancellor, Gladys Birdwell Horn, Landis, and Sneed serve other sections of the district; Chancellor has no bilingual students, and the ones in the district go to Sneed instead. For intermediate school Alief Middle, Budweig, Klentzman, and Owens serve sections of the district; Alief Middle does not have bilingual students, and they go to Owens instead. Middle schools serving sections include Alief Middle, O'Donnell, and Olle. For senior high school Alief ISD residents are randomly assigned to Alief Elsik, Alief Hastings, or Alief Taylor high schools.

YES Prep Public Schools YES Prep Public Schools, Inc. is a network of public, open-enrollment charter schools located in Greater Houston. Its headquarters are located at its Southside campus. The YES program is a university-preparatory program for grades K-12. Hist ...

has its headquarters in Greater Sharpstown. In addition YES Prep operates YES Prep Gulfton (originally YES Prep Lee), YES Prep West, and YES Prep South at the Revolution Campus in Greater Sharpstown. Harmony Public Schools also has its headquarters in Greater Sharpstown. In addition, it has Harmony Science Academy High School, which was ranked in the top ten schools in the Greater Houston area by Children at Risk, and the Harmony School of Innovation in Greater Sharpstown. Girls and Boys Preparatory Academy, a charter school, was in Greater Sharpstown. Greater Sharpstown also has three private schools
St. Francis de Sales Catholic School
(grades K-8),

Strake Jesuit College Preparatory Strake Jesuit College Preparatory (properly referred to as Strake Jesuit or Jesuit but often informally called Strake) is a Jesuit, college-preparatory school for boys, grades 9–12, in the Chinatown area and in the Greater Sharpstown district ...

and Saint Agnes Academy, are located in Sharpstown. Islamic Education Institute of Texas (IEIT) is headquartered in Southwest Management District.

Public libraries

Two

Houston Public Library Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in ...

facilities, the M. E. Walter Neighborhood Library and HPL Express Southwest, are in Greater Sharpstown.

Colleges and universities

Houston Christian University Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University (HBU), is a private Baptist university in Houston, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Its Cultural Arts Center houses three museums: the ...

(renamed from Houston Baptist University in September 2022) is located in Greater Sharpstown.

provides the district's residents with community college services.

Westwood College Westwood College was a private for-profit college owned by Alta Colleges Inc. with 15 campus locations in five states and online learning options. Westwood was nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Scho ...

's Houston South Campus was located in One Arena Place in

Arena Place Arena Place is a complex including two office towers and a theater located in Sharpstown, Southwest Management District, Houston, Texas.Houston South Campus
"

. Retrieved on April 24, 2010.

References

External links

Southwest Management District
* {{coord missing, Texas Neighborhoods in Houston