Other major cities have important, exquisitely designed sites. It is time for our city to have its own.
The Texas Central Partners has chosen Northwest Mall as the preferred site for the high-speed rail station.
Mayor Sylvester Turner called the announcement last month further proof of a dramatic change in how and where people will travel in the Houston region. “We are moving to a new phase in this city,” Turner said at a ceremony last month announcing the site selection and releasing renderings of the proposed station. How will people departing from or arriving to the station get there? This proposal neglects to seize the opportunity for putting our city on a global map.
City leaders were surprised that Houston was not on the final list of cities being considered for Amazon’s new headquarters. Should our civic leaders invite Jeff Bezos to town and escort him to this mall to convince him that our city cares about people? Dallas — which did make Amazon’s list of 20 — positioned its bullet station at the city convention center on the edge of downtown with hotels, restaurants, a government center and an active urban street life in place.
Houston is being outdone by Dallas, when it needs to be comparing itself to Paris, Berlin, London, Vienna, Hong Kong, New York City and other global cities.
Have our leaders seen and actually experienced their train stations and airports? Most are centrally located, function efficiently and are architecturally beautiful.
The news reports have even mentioned the empty mall and its depressed neighborhood would see new life. Is the major criteria for a central rail station to solve the decline of store-based suburban retail? City leaders are supposed to be focused on the vitality of the city as a whole, and they need to do that by looking to the future.
In selecting a rail station site, the main problem to address is function, especially in terms of existing rail track locations, access for buses, cars, bikes and other key infrastructural connections. Also important is the inherent potential in the site for enhancement of growth of the surrounding area in the future.
Houston’s site has limited potential based on the adjacent property uses. To the north is an area school district athletic complex. To the west is an industrial warehouse area and to the east is a super-sized freeway intersection.
The physical, psychological and aesthetic experience of a person arriving to our city should be based on creating a place with a sense of beauty, civic pride, convenience and comfort. This site forces our visitors to transfer to car transit to get where they want to go in and around Houston. Metro has worked hard to improve and expand its rail and bus system in Houston but this proposal neglects that effort to favor cars yet again.
We need a bold vision. We must locate the station downtown, as have most major cities of the world. We have empty buildings and parking lots across our downtown. Why can’t we find a means of locating the station in our undervalued center city?
Early images of the proposed Houston station indicate another serious problem. The designer of Houston’s Bullet Train Terminal Station should be selected by an international design competition. Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States, and it will likely take over Chicago to become third. New York has Grand Central Station. Los Angeles has Union Station. Houston needs an important, beautifully designed station of its very own.