03-05-07 Special Called Joint Meeting of the La Porte Development Corporation Board of Directors and the La Porte City Council Minutes

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AREA OVERVIEW II -12 The light rail system, which was completed in early 2004, connects Reliant Stadium, the Texas Medical Center, the Museum District and the downtown area. The Museum District offers 16 museums and art galleries and one outdoor theater. Other attractions in the greater Houston area include the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Battleship Texas, San Jacinto Monument, and Galveston Bay, all located proximate to the subject site. TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER The Texas Medical Center (TMC) Campus, which covers over 740 acres and encompasses more than 100 permanent buildings, is located about five miles south of downtown Houston to which it connects via the new light rail system. The TMC is the world's largest medical complex and the medical, academic and research institutions of the TMC are Houston's largest employers. Overall there are over 60,000 employees in 14 hospitals which accommodate more than 5.1 million patient visits to the complex each year. More than 90,000 people attend classes at the various institutions in the TMC, which include the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas System Cancer Center and the Texas Heart Institute. There are currently more than $714 million in medical research activities at the TMC. MUSEUM DISTRICT The Houston Museum District is located one mile north of the TMC on the light rail line, which also connects it to downtown. Thanks to the Museum District, Houston has become an internationally recognized arts center. The district is home to 16 museums. According to the Houston Museum District Association and individual member institutions, the Museum District is in the midst of a massive expansion, worth more than $100 million in cultural development. Over 5 million people visit the top five museums alone and some museums have experienced an almost tenfold increase in visitor numbers over the past two decades. A Houston area map illustrating the location of the subject property is provided on the following page.