Macie Kelly/ Houston Public Media
A major expansion of the Ben Taub Hospital in the Texas Medical Center is set to include the seizure of nearly nine acres of land from Hermann Park.
Harris Health, an entity of the county, is in discussions to take by eminent domain three parcels of land adjacent to the hospital to support the expansion. The plan was explained during a public hearing on the land seizure last week when members of the health system board of trustees heard no strong opposition to the plan.
Cara Lambright, the president of the Hermann Park Conservancy, said the need for the hospital expansion is clear. She said the conservancy, which serves as a nonprofit citizens’ organization that oversees park improvements, supports the expansion — but remains mindful of what the community stands to lose.
“The tract under consideration is one of the last undeveloped parcels in the park,” Lambright said. “It plays a key role in the park’s publicly informed master plan. Envisioned as a new connection to Brays Bayou, a healing garden for patients and visitors and a desperately needed parking solution.”
The area was a key part of the conservancy’s updated master plan last year. It is not exactly clear yet how the future hospital expansion will affect projects outlined in the master plan, including ones that would have improved walkability and connections to the bayou trail.
Michael Evans, who serves in Houston’s parks department, called the move to expand hospital services crucial. He said the city will continue operating the area as a public park for the foreseeable future.
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Lambright said that a land swap may be under consideration, but the timeline for receiving any replacement land appears long and uncertain, possibly stretching many years.
“That kind of delay carries real consequences for public access to greenspace and raises the burden of how that lot should be addressed in the interim,” she said. “It’s also important to acknowledge that this is not the first time that Hermann Park land has been ceded to hospital development. The current Ben Taub hospital site itself was once part of the park. These incremental losses add up, they are borne by all Houstonians.”
But members of the health board and supporters of the project called it the only feasible plan to expand Ben Taub — which is adjacent to urban park land and located within the country’s largest medical complex.
Covering about 445 acres of land, Hermann Park is owned by the city of Houston. Esmaeil Porsa, the CEO of Harris Health, said the three parcels of land that may be seized comprise of about two percent of park land. The section is within Hermann Park but generally isolated on the southwest corner and separated by Cambridge Street, he said.
Texas Medical Center employees have carved a footpath across the grassy area as a shortcut. Natee Kongchan, who works at the neighboring Baylor College of Medicine, walks on the trail every day. He said the hospital expansion will only make his daily walk a little more inconvenient.
“People walk straight through here,” he said. “You can see how people walk so much, it naturally formed a path.”
Last year, the county health system broke ground on a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar facilities expansion.
The $2.9 billion plan is expected to expand the capacity of Ben Taub and add a new Level 1 trauma hospital. The major facilities project includes a $1.6 billion hospital on the Harris Health LBJ Hospital campus in north Houston that will accommodate 390 private rooms.
William McKeon, the Texas Medical Center CEO, said Ben Taub Hospital is the cornerstone of the medical center, but park land plays a vital role in the area.
“I fully support the condemnation, and the highest, best use is for Ben Taub,” McKeon said. “You look at that campus, there’s no other option. It is running full tilt on a 60-year-old facility, and it desperately needs this to be able to transform it. We looked very carefully at the land.”
Last Thursday, Esmaeil Porsa said the hospital is one of only two Level 1 trauma centers serving Harris County’s nearly 5 million residents. A recent survey from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research said the county is expected to add 1.2 million residents by 2050.
The hospital is currently operating above its maximum in-patient capacity because of the growing demand for medical care in the community, Porsa said.
“Harris Health anticipates that approximately 110 additional beds will be needed to accommodate an expected growth of 18,000 additional emergency room visits over the next decade,” Porsa said. “Harris Health has fully analyzed and considered an expansion of the hospital within the existing hospital site to support an increase in in-patient capacity in its current location. But this option was ultimately determined to be impossible.”
Officials have cited the current maximum capacity of the hospital, aging infrastructure, and its need for modernization as reasons the expansion would have to stretch beyond the existing boundaries of the building. Porsa also said it would not be possible to close portions of the hospital during ongoing construction activities and still serve essential emergency services and the health care needs of the public.
The area will continue serving as park land until the condemnation proceedings are complete and ownership is transferred.
“The proximity to Ben Taub Hospital makes these three parcels uniquely suitable for construction of a new patient tower to be directly connected to the hospital by a sky bridge,” Porsa said.
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