Texas Central Partners and Houston-area elected officials on Monday announced that the company, which is seeking federal approval for a 240-mile high-speed train line, has chosen Northwest Mall near Loop 610 and U.S. 290 as their preferred site.
The company has an option to buy the land, said Jack Matthews, who is handling property acquisition for Texas Central.
The announcement was largely expected, as the mall site remained the most viable site to put a train station along Hempstead Road in the area around Loop 610. It also emerged from a federal environmental review as the most practical site in terms of displacing fewer homes and businesses. Still, the line will affect landowners along Hempstead as the tracks extend from the proposed station into northwest Harris and southern Waller counties.
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Almost all of the stores within the mall itself are closed. Only a handful of stores and venues with exterior entrances remain open.
City leaders also joined with Metropolitan Transit Authority officials, noting they hoped the station could spur rail development from Metro’s nearby Northwest Transit Center to downtown Houston.
Texas Central CEO Carlos Aguilar said the site was chosen because its location gives the company ready access to many Houston area travelers. The area around Loop 610 and U.S. 290 is essentially the population center of the region, as development has spread rapidly north and west of the urban core.
“This is the best site for Houston for many reasons,” Aguilar said.
That happened on the same day that the public hearing for the draft EIS was held in Cypress. The Dallas end of the line was chosen last week. The Trib adds a few details.
The chosen location is about 1.5 miles from Northwest Transit Center, a major bus hub and the closest public transportation connection. Despite that distance, the company said in a prepared statement Monday that the station will provide “convenient, efficient and direct” connections to the Houston METRO transit system.
METRO does not currently have any light-rail lines in that part of the city. The agency is working on a long-term plan for expanded transit service.
“So we’re in a broad range of conversation and thought as to how to provide that connection,” Texas Central President Tim Keith told The Texas Tribune on Monday.
There’s pictures at Swamplot, so go check it out. It’s true there’s not much there now, but as you can see there are big plans to change that. There aren’t any transit connections yet, but we’re talking about a 2024 debut for TCR, so there’s a lot of time for stuff to happen. I feel confident the forthcoming Metro referendum will include an item to deal with this in some fashion. I’m looking forward to it.
We can now build the blue and black? lines and connect to the new terminal via uptown. It could all come together quite nicely.
Like anything from Texas Central, you must quote them exactly or you will change all meaning:
“has chosen Northwest Mall near Loop 610 and U.S. 290 as their preferred site.”
“Preferred” being the key word here.
I was at the Cypress (Harris County) meeting and the FRA guy said that all 3 Houston locations were still under consideration. From the DEIS:
“FRA has not identified a preferred alternative for the Houston Terminal Station at this time. FRA will continue to analyze all Build Alternatives and Houston station options through the Final EIS. Focused analysis on the preferred alternative and Houston station options will be completed in coordination with federal agencies to support permit applications, biological opinions and Section 106 consultation.”
No doubt, all things being equal, TCR’s and COH’s preference would carry weight.
(Another good example is people interpreting TCR saying that they will take no government grants for construction or subsidies for operations as meaning no tax dollars. TCR says they will seek federal loans and state and local tax abatements such as 380’s etc.)
My preference, as always, is NO BUILD!
And currently, the FRA says that the Final EIS will be out 8/30/2019. So another 18 months or so until the station location is decided. Unless NO BUILD is chosen. 🙂