Texas Medical Center to expand with $37M parking garage

Neighborhood remains a hotspot for Downtown development

Houston Methodist's Marc L. Boom, 6551 Bertner Avenue (Houston Methodist, Getty)
Houston Methodist's Marc L. Boom, 6551 Bertner Avenue (Houston Methodist, Getty)

Houston Methodist plans to build a 12-story parking garage with transit access amid continued growth in the Medical Center.

The project, dubbed Methodist JRB Garage II, will sit adjacent to the current eight-story parking plaza on 7550 Greenbriar Drive and occupy 643,000 square feet. Energy Architecture is signed on to the development, which is expected to cost upwards of $37 million, or about $60 per square foot. Houston Methodist is expected to break ground on the project in Q2 2023.

The garage will create designated space for public transportation, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing.

Representatives from Energy Architecture and Houston Methodist declined to comment on the project.

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Other TMC projects in the works

The Medical Center has seen a series of expansions since 2020. It welcomed the Houston Methodist Center for Innovation’s first laboratory space in a 3,500-square-foot tech-focused expansion. Houston Methodist unveiled plans to build a 26-story hospital tower to join the iconic TMC skyline last spring.

That $1.4 billion project, the Centennial Tower, is expected to open in 2027. It will connect multiple Houston Methodist facilities to allow for further integration. Most notably, the Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Tower, on 6551 Bertner Avenue, just across from the Baylor College of Medicine.

TMC laid out additional plans in September to double its size with a 500-acre biomanufacturing and medical supplies distribution center as Houston expands its presence in the life science sector, where it reigns supreme. Houston’s medical mini-city is the world’s largest medical center and continues to be a hub for health and science-related developers to break ground.

Houston Methodist has been recognized as the No. 1 best regional hospital in Texas and No. 15 in the nation, according to the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings. The medical system consists of eight community facilities across the Greater Houston metro with a ninth currently scheduled to open Q1 2025 at 24510 Northwest Freeway to serve the rapidly growing 290 corridor.