Greater Greenspoint, also referred to as the North Houston District, is a business district and a suburban neighborhood in northern Harris County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located mostly within the city limits of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Centered around the junction of

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

and

Texas State Highway 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. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texas D ...

near

George Bush Intercontinental Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Located about north of Downtown Houston between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 5 ...

, the area is a classic example of a planned

edge city ''Edge city'' is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or rura ...

. The initial retail and office development centered around Greenspoint Mall was a project of the Friendswood Development Company during the 1970s and early 1980s.Bivins, Ralph.
Exxon mulls move to Greenspoint site
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in 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''. With i ...

''. Wednesday December 13, 1989. Business 3. Retrieved on August 3, 2009. Greenspoint is one of Houston's major business districts, with of office space. The district's 2,880 companies host a workforce of nearly 50,000 people. Major flooding events along Greens Bayou, which bisects the district, have put additional pressure on the area's large low-income population; nearly half of Greenspoint residents have an income of under $25,000 per year, well below the Houston median of over $44,000 per year. In order to create new infrastructure, boost public services (particularly safety), and spearhead

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

, the

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US 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 powerful ar ...

created the North Houston District in 1991. This special government entity is bounded by the Hardy Toll Road to the east, Airtex Boulevard to the north, Veterans Memorial Drive to the west, and West Road to the south.Boundary Map
."
Full map
) Greenspoint Management District. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.

Geography

Greenspoint is located at the junction of two major regional highways,

(the North Freeway) and

. The district is only west of

(IAH). The district is straddled by Greens Bayou, a major

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of Buffalo Bayou which flows from west to east. The bayou was extensively channelized in the 1970s to improve drainage from the then-new airport; however, rapid development within its environs has compromised its ability to handle high-volume rainfall events. Over Construction also overwhelmed the bayou with uncontrolled sewage overflows in the 1970s and 1980s, and the waterway continues to struggle with

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

issues. In 2005, the Houston–Galveston Area Council identified Greenspoint as one of the most hazardous communities in Houston for pedestrians.

Demographics

The Greater Greenspoint super neighborhood, as defined by the City of Houston, had an estimated population of 42,569 people in 2012. There were 13,859 households, of which 9,235 were family households. Greenspoint is overwhelmingly

majority minority A majority-minority or minority-majority area is a term used to refer to a subdivision in which one or more racial, ethnic, and/or religious minorities (relative to the whole country's population) make up a majority of the local population. Ter ...

. The population is 5% non-Hispanic white, 29% non-Hispanic black, 66% Hispanic, and 1% Asian. In the 2000 Census, the district was 10% non-Hispanic white, 34% non-Hispanic black, 53% Hispanic, 2% Asian, and 1% other. Greenspoint's proportion of black and Hispanic people is significantly greater than that for Houston as a whole; the city was 26% non-Hispanic white, 23% non-Hispanic black, and 44% Hispanic in 2012. Since the 1980s, the proportion of families in Greenspoint has dramatically increased. In 2012, there were 13,859 households, of which 9,235 were family households. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of people under the age of 18 in Greenspoint increased nearly sixfold, indicating the departure of young professionals and their replacement with low-income families in the area's apartment complexes. The proportion of Greenspoint residents under 5 years of age is nearly double the city of Houston's. The Greenspoint area's median

household income Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence. It includes every form of income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, near cash government transfers like food stamp ...

is significantly lower than the City of Houston's – $26,823 versus $44,648 in 2012. Greenspoint's median household income declined slightly between 2000 and 2012 despite a 22% increase in the city's overall median household income during the same period. A plurality (48%) of Greenspoint's residents make less than $25,000 per year. Greenspoint's population has lower levels of educational attainment than the city of Houston as a whole. Only 6% of Greenspoint residents had a bachelor's degree or higher in 2012, compared with 29% of Houston residents. Conversely, 45% of Greenspoint residents have no high school diploma, compared with only 25% of Houstonians overall.

History

Suburban development first arrived in the area with the construction of Greenspoint Mall by development firm Federated Stores Realty in 1976. By contemporary standards, the mall was state-of-the-art, with the interior designed to mimic an urban streetscape with extensive natural lighting and organic landscaping. Early tenants included Foley's,

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

, and

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

. The arrival of the mall and its modern suburban amenities catalyzed a wave of development on the

greenfield land Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area either used for agriculture or landscape design, or left to evolve naturally. These areas of land are usually agricultural or amenity properties ...

surrounding it. In 1978, Friendswood Development Company, a subsidiary of oil giant Exxon, purchased hundreds of acres around the mall for the construction of what the ''Texas Observer'' described as a "world-class suburban business district, a hub for the corporate jet set." The master plan included 5,000 apartment units and eight interconnected office towers. The onset of the

1980s oil glut The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $ per barrel in dollars, when adjusted for inf ...

in the middle of the decade harshly affected Exxon, which cut its workforce by 40%. Greenspoint, faced with a glut of residential and commercial development, quickly lost its luxury appeal and price point. Greenspoint Mall became the apex of a growing crime problem, and by the middle of the decade, motor vehicle theft was endemic to its large surface parking lot. Crime problems in the Mall climaxed with the abduction and murder of Harris County Sheriff's deputy Roxyann Allee at the mall in 1991. After frequent robberies in the parking lot and the infamous murder of deputy Roxyann Allee the mall was nicknamed "Gunspoint." In 1998, Goldman Sachs purchased 24 Greenspoint-area apartment complexes, totaling of rentable space, for over $130 million. 15 of those complexes were extensively renovated and merged into a large development known as "CityView", designed to appeal to higher-income young professionals. Since 2000, Greenspoint has suffered from multiple catastrophic flooding events, largely due to the presence of multiple high-density apartment complexes within the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of Greens Bayou. The bayou overtopped its banks in 2001 (

Tropical Storm Allison Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical storm that devastated southeast Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. An arguable example of the " brown ocean effect", Allison lasted unusually long for a June storm, remaining tropical or s ...

), 2002, 2003, 2016 ( "Tax Day" floods), and 2017 ( Hurricane Harvey). Three-quarters of the district's

multi-family housing Multifamily residential (also known as multidwelling unit or MDU) is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units ca ...

is located within a floodplain. After Hurricane Katrina struck

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

in 2005, large groups of evacuees settled into apartment complexes in the area. In 2017, Greenspoint Mall entered into a contract for sale to an international investment group which seeks to replace the ailing complex with mixed-use development. Despite the overwhelming support from the development company and city council, the locals in the North Houston District strongly opposed the redevelopment of Greenspoint Mall in an effort to save their "mall". This is one of many occurrences in the past three decades where locals in the North Houston District have stalled development efforts. By 2020

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

had established a warehouse in Greenspoint. R.A. Schuetz of the ''

'' stated that a "revival" in Greenspoint was occurring. In 2019 Florian Martin of Houston Public Media reported that year that the "Gunspoint" nickname was still in use and that despite an increase in development and a decline in the crime rate, that "It’s Not Quite Houston’s New Hotspot Just Yet".

Economy

Greenspoint contains of office space hosting 2,880 companies with nearly 50,000 employees. In 2010, Greenspoint was named one of the top five markets in the United States for

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

companies.Popovec, Jennifer Duell.
Greenspoint Attracts Large Industrial
." Globst.com by ALM. April 21, 2010. Retrieved on April 29, 2010. Following the completion of a comprehensive new corporate campus in Spring, ExxonMobil withdrew completely from Greenspoint, abandoning approximately of office space during the mid-2010s. This move severely impacted the district's office market, which saw its office occupancy rate plummet to 60% in 2015, making it the worst-performing office submarket in Greater Houston. Prior to its move, ExxonMobil had consolidated a variety of departments into the district, including computer operations and exploration. The corporation's investment in Greenspoint had been so substantial that it was responsible for the construction of an entire eight-story office building, Greenspoint Eight, in the mid-1990s. ExxonMobil's presence expanded further in the 2000s, when it leased additional space and spent millions of dollars on infrastructure improvements.Sarnoff, Nancy. "ExxonMobil may be frontrunner for Enron Center South building." ''

Houston Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor New ...

''. Friday February 8, 2002
1
Retrieved on April 5, 2010.

Corporate operations

Greenspoint contains the headquarters of the following companies: * Canrig Drilling Technologies * Friendswood Development Company Additionally, these corporations have major operations in Greenspoint: * Nabors Industries * Saudia *

Servisair Servisair was an aircraft ground handling company which was acquired and merged into Swissport and partly the Nordic-based Aviator Airport Alliance in 2014. It had operations in 175 airports worldwide with its head office in the Servisair House ...

Aetna Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...

Former operations

ASP Westward ASP Westward, L.P., or "Westward," was a local newspaper company, headquartered in Greenspoint, Houston.ExpressJet Airlines ExpressJet Airlines was a regional U.S. airline headquartered in College Park, Georgia. The company originally operated as a contracted codeshare partner, flying under the American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express brands at var ...

was headquartered in Greenspoint and in Houston.

Anadarko Petroleum Anadarko Petroleum Corporation was a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It was organized in Delaware and headquartered in two skyscrapers in The Woodlands, Texas: the Allison Tower and the Hackett Tower, both named after former CEOs of ...

was headquartered in the Anadarko Tower. Around 2002, Anadarko moved to

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with p ...

, Montgomery County. At one time the headquarters of Atofina (now Total Petrochemicals USA) were in an area in Houston in proximity to

and in proximity to the Greenspoint district.Dawson, Jennifer.
ATOFINA to move from Greenspoint to downtown
" ''

''. Monday July 19, 2004. Retrieved on April 5, 2010. The lease to the former space was scheduled to expire in 2010, but the company had the right to cancel its lease in 2007. The firm, which occupied a similar amount of square footage in the previous office that it has in its current office, planned to sublease the space from 2005 to 2007.

Tax exemptions

Due to efforts from the North Houston Greenspoint Chamber of Commerce, in May 2003 the

Aldine Independent School District The Aldine Independent School District is a public school district based in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States. It serves portions of Houston and unincorporated Harris County. Aldine ISD serves the communities of Aldine, most of ...

(AISD) ratified approval of the freeport tax exemptions, which waive ad valorem property taxes on types of business inventory. 150 of the 5,000 companies operating in the Greenspoint area qualified for freeport tax exemptions. The chamber asked the school district to exempt the taxes because neighboring school districts had adopted the exemption and put the territory in AISD in a competitive disadvantage. As of 2003 the portions of Greenspoint covered by the City of Houston are under a freeport tax exemption from the city government, while the areas of Greenspoint in

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

s do not have that exemption.

Government and infrastructure

Local government and special districts

Greater Greenspoint straddles the city limits of Houston, with portions lying in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Harris County. Since Greenspoint is not an incorporated area, it does not have fixed geographic boundaries. AldineStorefrontHoustonTX

The portion of Greenspoint within Houston is part of

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Currently, there are sixteen members, 11 elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, w ...

district B. The Houston Police Department (HPD) serves the Houston portions of Greenspoint from the North Belt Police Station. The station, in a temporary office building location was of 2020, opened in January 2018. HPD previously served it as part of the North Patrol Division, While Greenspoint was a part of the North District, HPD operated two "storefronts" – small

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, ...

s located in retail centers – in the area: Aldine Storefront along Interstate 45 near Airline Drive and Greenspoint Storefront on the grounds of Greenspoint Mall.Police Stations and Neighborhood Storefronts
" Houston Police Department. Retrieved on May 27, 2010. "Aldine 10966 North Fwy" and "Greenspoint 105 Greenspoint Mall " Greenspoint is serviced by a special management district, the North Houston District, which was created by the

in 1991 to fund infrastructure, public safety, branding, and planning initiatives. The district levies its own special

ad valorem An ''ad valorem'' tax (Latin for "according to value") is a tax whose amount is based on the value of a transaction or of property. It is typically imposed at the time of a transaction, as in the case of a sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). An ...

commercial property tax on parcels within its boundaries to fund these improvements. The entity was known as the Greenspoint District until 2016, when it was renamed to reflect its incorporation of areas outside the traditional boundaries of Greenspoint. The Greater Greenspoint Redevelopment Authority (GGRA), which oversees the Greenspoint Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), is a separate entity from the North Houston District. TIRZs, which are created by the City of Houston (as opposed to the Texas Legislature), use

tax increment financing Tax increment financing (TIF) is a public financing method that is used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure, and other community-improvement projects in many countries, including the United States. The original intent of a TIF program is ...

to fund infrastructure and economic development projects within their boundaries. While the North Houston District and the GGRA often cooperate to create, manage, and fund infrastructure projects, they are distinct legal entities with different geographic boundaries. The Houston Fire Department operates Station 74 Greenspoint, located in Fire District 64. The station at Airline and Goodson was built in 1979; the location was shared with the Little York Volunteer Fire Department. The current Station 74, located at Aldine Bender at Lillja, was built in 1983.

Federal and state representation

The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

operates the Greens North Post Office at 1530 Greensmark Drive. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Houston Field Office and the Houston office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are in Greenspoint and in Houston.

Education

Community colleges

A satellite campus of the Lone Star College–North Harris of the

Lone Star College System Lone Star College (LSC) is a public community college system serving the northern portions of the Greater Houston, Texas, area. In 2017 it enrolled about 95,000 students. The headquarters of the Lone Star College System are located in The Woo ...

(previously the North Harris Montgomery Community College District (NHMCCD)), LSC-Greenspoint Center, is located along

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. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texa ...

; it is on the south side of Beltway 8 while Greenspoint Mall is on the north side. The center was previously the administrative headquarters of the NHMCCD. Previously the Parkway Center in Greenspoint and in Houston was within the North Harris College.

Primary and secondary schools

Most students living in Greenspoint are zoned to the

; however, some are zoned to the

Spring Independent School District Spring Independent School District is a school district based in the Gordon M. Anderson Leadership Center in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States. It is located in north Harris County. The district serves over 32,100 pre-kindergar ...

Aldine Independent School District

Aldine ISD serves much of the Greenspoint district. PreK schools serving sections of Greenspoint include deSantiago, Griggs, Hinojosa (in Aldine), Keeble, and Magrill. Elementary schools serving sections of Greenspoint include Greenspoint (in Greenspoint), Black, Bussey (in Greenspoint), Calvert, Eckert, Gray (in Greenspoint), Marcella (in Greenspoint), Spence (in Greenspoint), Stehlik (in Greenspoint), and Thompson. Marcella and Stehlik were previously grade 5-6 intermediate schools. Middle schools serving Greenspoint include Stovall (in Greenspoint), Lewis, Plummer, and Teague. Aldine High School and

Benjamin O. Davis High School Benjamin O. Davis High School is a public high school located in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, USA, near Houston, and a part of the Aldine Independent School District. It is classified as a 6A school by the UIL. In 2019, the school rec ...

are located in Greenspoint and serve portions of the district. Nimitz High School serves a small section. When Davis High School opened in 2012, a portion of Greenspoint was rezoned to that school. StovallMSHoustonTX

Spring Independent School District

None of the Spring ISD schools serving Greenspoint are in Greenspoint. Clark Primary and Clark Intermediate School, in an unincorporated area, serve one portion of Greenspoint for elementary school. Heritage Elementary School, in an unincorporated area, serves another. The SISD portion is also zoned to Wells Middle School and Dekaney High School, both in unincorporated areas.

Public libraries

The Harris County Public Library Aldine Branch, located at 11331 Airline Drive in Greenspoint and in Houston, serves the community.WORTH READING ABOUT / Construction work under way on Barbara Bush branch library
" ''

''. Wednesday September 20, 2000. ThisWeek 1. Retrieved on December 9, 2011. The branch opened in 1976. The renovated Aldine Branch reopened on September 6, 2001. The expansion and renovation was originally scheduled to be completed in January 2001. Due to the expansion, the library gained , which led to increases in meeting spaces and a 100% increase in the number of computers. Students from Aldine High School, Aldine 9th Grade School, Stovall Middle School, and Black Elementary School use the branch.

Parks and recreation

The management district destroyed two abandoned apartment complexes and replaced them with parks operated by the management district.Greater Greenspoint Redevelopment Authority
." Greenspoint Management District. Retrieved on May 30, 2010. The CityView Park includes benches, a garden, a by pavilion, a trellis, a seat wall used for resting and providing shade, and tables. The Thomas R. Wussow Park has baseball/soccer (football) fields, hike and bicycle trails, a playground, a public pavilion, a spray ground, and sand volleyball courts. The park was named after Thomas R. Wussow, the founder of the district and a member of the district's board. In 2010 the management district announced that a

skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, qua ...

would be established by 2010 in an area at Kuykendahl Road at Rankin Road, near

.Koloian, Kevin.
Skate park to go up in the area by 2012
" '' The Spring Observer''. Tuesday March 16, 2010. Updated on Saturday November 20, 2010. Retrieved on December 4, 2010.

Gallery

Image:Greenspointsquare.jpg Image:GreenspointMallmap.jpg Image:GreenspointMall.jpg Image:GreenspointFitness.jpg Image:Macysgreenspoint.jpg Image:GreenspointMallfreeway.jpg File:BusseyESHoustonTX.JPG, Bussey Elementary School

References

External links

North Houston District
**

- City of Houston {{Authority control Neighborhoods in Houston