Overview

• Trustees voted unanimously to begin acquiring nearly 9 acres southeast of Ben Taub Hospital for a new patient tower connected by a sky bridge.
• Harris Health leaders say adjacent land is the only financially and operationally viable option to add beds at the county’s Level I trauma center.
• The parcels remain city parkland until a condemnation is finalized, and the plan still needs approval from Houston City Council and Harris County Commissioners Court.
• Descendants of 1914 donor August Warneke cite a deed reverter clause and object to changing the land’s park use.
• Hermann Park Conservancy says it has not received a full land-swap or mitigation proposal and insists the park’s loss would require substantial resources.