Guest Lecturers

Our guest speakers in class were Mr. Mike Gentry and Dr. Sam Harrison. Dr. Harrison is a part of the historic Harrison family, who have been staple-folds in the Bryan/College Station community for many generations. The topic of the discussion was the development of Dr. Harrison's land located just off of Highway 6. Mr. Gentry is Dr. Harrison's real estate lawyer and specializes in real estate law with West, Webb, Allbritton & Gentry, PC. Both speakers were from Texas A&M and remain as leaders in the community.

The speakers' main discussion was about the struggles and difficulties of developing Dr. Harrison's land. Dr. Harrison told us that the land had been in his family since his great grandfather won the land in poker match many decades ago. With a recent boom in development in the B/CS area, Dr. Harrison decided to start selling off parts of his land for development. Many of the complications with selling the land come early on in the process. Early on, the government requires a historical survey of land before the land can be developed. If any historical artifacts are found, you have to shut the project down to do a complete inventory. They must also do a soil sample. In this case, the soil sample revealed that spilled oil that leaked out when Exxon moved a pipeline on the property in 1918 remained in the soil. This forced Dr. Harrison to excavate a 20'x10'x6' parcel of soil to send to Austin for more testing. Another large portion of the discussion dealt with zoning and how different zoning rules can save you money on taxes. Mr. Gentry spoke about a Tax Incremental Reinvestment Zone, in which you issues bonds to pay for the cost of buildings and roads, and the increase in tax revenue in the TIRZ zone from the development will pay off the bonds. The discussion also included easements, surface rights, and mineral rights.

Probably the most interesting thing about the lecture was the fact that Dr. Harrison's family acquired the land at hand in a poker game. It was probably a more common occurrence at the time,  but in today's world, it just seems like such an informal and crazy way to pass off ownership of property.