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ULI Houston - Young Leader Tour - Emancipation Center ONE
Join Young Leaders for a guided tour through Houston's newest mixed-use development dedicated to expanding opportunities for affordable housing.
About Emancipation Center ONE
This affordable housing operations center is a five-story, 64,500-square-foot core and shell office building that will house a number of organizations that are engaged in affordable housing advocacy, administration and support services. Across the street from Emancipation Park in Houston’s Third Ward near downtown, this is the first centrally located facility for these much-needed services. The buildings’ first and fifth floors will have space for community gatherings. The project also includes a 80,700-square-foot, four-story open parking garage and three-story, 20-unit residential building. The site has historical significance for African-American heritage and the building’s design was inspired to reflect this.
GUEST SPEAKERS
The Honorable Garnet F. Coleman
Texas House of Representatives, District 147
Garnet F. Coleman has served the people of District 147 in the Texas House of Representatives continuously since 1991. Throughout his years of service, Representative Coleman has earned a reputation as a diligent leader in the areas of health care, economic development and education. He is currently the Senior ranking member of the Public Health Committee as well as the Chairman of the County Affairs Committee. Representative Coleman also served as a member of the House Select Committee for Mental Health during the 84th Legislative Session and the House Select Committee on Opioid and Substance Abuse during the 85th Legislative Session.
For many years, Representative Coleman has been deeply committed to expanding access to health care for all Texans. To further this goal, he served as a member of President Obama’s State Legislators for Health Reform, which is a working group of 32 state legislators dedicated to advancing the need for health reform in their communities.
Some of his most significant legislative accomplishments include joint authoring legislation that simplified access to children’s Medicaid for more than 600,000 children in Texas who were eligible for the program but were not enrolled because of bureaucratic barriers. He also helped secure an increase of $161.5 million for at-risk child care services and joint authored legislation that created the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in Texas, which makes low-cost health insurance available to more than 400,000 children from working families. Representative Coleman also passed the Sandra Bland Act which included de-escalation training for officers, improving the process to make a complaint or compliment of an officer, jail diversion, jail safety, improved data collection, and improvements to mental healthcare.
Representative Coleman’s legislative efforts have been recognized in numerous ways. On two occasions, he was named to the prestigious Texas Monthly Ten Best Legislators List and in 2005 he received the Eli Lilly Reintegration Award for his efforts to increase services and decrease the stigma associated with mental illness. He has also been awarded the American Psychiatric Association Jacob R. Javits Public Service Award.
Representative Coleman has served as the Chair of the Legislative Study Group, a non-partisan house caucus dedicated to the development of sound public policy, since 2003 when he was elected to the position by more than 40 of his colleagues. In addition, Representative Coleman has the honor of being a past chairman and current member of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus.
Striving to increase economic development in Texas, Rep. Coleman has been instrumental in passing legislation fostering urban redevelopment. He authored and passed legislation that created the Greater Southeast Management District, the Downtown Management District and the Fourth Ward and East Montrose Improvement Districts. Additionally, he passed legislation creating Houston’s convention center hotel and expanding the convention center itself. Representative Coleman also joint-authored legislation during the 2017 legislative session which will help increase the number of affordable housing units in communities of color.
Outside of his legislative work, Representative Coleman remains active and involved in the Houston community. He serves on the advisory board of the Houston Children’s Museum and the Ensemble Theater. In 1991, Representative Coleman founded S.M.A.R.T. Kids, a youth development program that provides much-needed tutoring for inner-city students.
Raised in Houston, Representative Coleman attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. and graduated from the University of St. Thomas cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1990. He also completed the prestigious Harvard University Senior Executive Program for State and Local Government. Representative Coleman and his wife, Angelique, reside in Houston’s University Oaks neighborhood. They have two children, Austin and Evan.
George N. Wyche, Jr.
Executive Vice President
ARVO Realty Advisors
George N. Wyche, Jr., is chiefly responsible for the business development and strategic planning initiatives of the firm. He is principally charged with developing strategies for company growth and the expansion of the firm’s burgeoning corporate services and consulting practice divisions. Previous to joining ARVO Realty Advisors, Mr. Wyche was engaged in the private practice of law for 14 years, primarily specializing in real estate, real estate finance and entity counseling and formation.
A graduate of Howard University, Mr. Wyche received a B.B.A. in Finance in 1984. In 1988, Mr. Wyche received his Juris Doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center.