East End Terminal

Located southeast of downtown Houston, the East End District is a 16-square mile, special district divided by the Houston METRO Green line running northwest to southeast along Harrisburg Boulevard. In 2018, TGC was hired by the East End District to develop a strategy to secure federal discretionary funds and execute a 40-year capital lease for the use of 250 public parking spaces along the METRO Green line for METRO rail and transit riders.

This project is a good example of a TGC public-private partnership. In 2017, a private property owner along Harrisburg submitted an unsolicited proposal to lease parking spaces for transit use. This property owner needed to build a garage to support non-profit office space and had the opportunity to construct additional parking. The value-add to the East End District was that it could execute a capital lease and acquire use of public parking for a period of 40 years without having to incur the costs associated with land acquisition and design. Furthermore, the East End District would not be responsible for maintenance and operations costs under this approach.

This complex project involved multiple partners with various objectives and priorities. TGC activities included the following:

• Facilitation of political support for the project

• Targeted advocacy and coordination with East End staff

• Facilitation between Houston METRO, East End District, and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)

• Review and update of technical materials including the parking demand analysis and parking price analysis

• Development of a grant application package and supporting materials

Our strategic approach and technical expertise ultimately earned the project $5M in CMAQ discretionary funds. TGC’s public-private strategy will save the East End District millions of dollars over the conventional development approach of land acquisition, design, and construction and will result in a compressed timetable for facility development. Finally, the project is anticipated to provide a multimodal transportation option for commuters, resulting in cost savings for the general public through decreased parking rates.