Harris County Schedules Chapter 26 Hearing on Hermann Park Land Condemnation

Harris County moved forward Friday with a formal step toward using nearly nine acres of Hermann Park to expand Ben Taub Hospital, scheduling a Chapter 26 public hearing that could permit eminent domain for the project. The planned expansion is pitched as a $410 million addition to add roughly 100 inpatient beds and private patient rooms adjacent to the hospital on Cambridge Street, across from Ben Taub’s emergency room.

County records show the Harris County Commissioners Court asked to set and authorize notice of a Chapter 26 hearing for March 19, 2026, a process required for taking parkland. The action follows a September 23, 2025 resolution in which the Harris Health Board unanimously authorized acquisition by eminent domain of three Hermann Park parcels totaling about 8.9 acres. The board’s official record states it reviewed prior testimony and concluded “there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the taking of the property for the Project,” language the board included in its resolution.

Harris Health frames the expansion as urgent to keep pace with patient demand. In an FAQ updated Nov. 24, 2025 the health system said, “Harris Health is a critical provider of healthcare and emergency services to residents of Harris County and surrounding counties. To ensure that these services are available to meet the needs of the population of Houston, Harris County and the greater southeast Texas region, it is necessary for Harris Health to expand Ben Taub Hospital so that it can provide the increased patient bed capacity necessary to serve the essential trauma, emergency and healthcare needs of all residents.” The FAQ also notes, “Today, Ben Taub Hospital is consistently operating beyond its maximum patient capacity (402 beds). When demand exceeds capacity, patients are often placed in temporary hallway locations throughout the hospital until a room becomes available. While not ideal, these hallway patients receive necessary physician and nursing attention as they wait for a room.”

Project promoters say the attached tower, linked by a skybridge, will accommodate projected growth in emergency visits and admissions. Reported estimates range from about 18,000 additional emergency visits and 3,200 hospital admissions annually by 2030 to similar figures by 2031, depending on the source. Harris Health and county officials say building next to the existing facility avoids disrupting the Level One trauma center and keeps services in the Texas Medical Center while long-range replacement planning continues.

Park supporters and the Hermann Park Conservancy have urged stronger proof that no viable alternatives exist. The Commissioners Court directed Harris Health leadership to meet with the Conservancy Board at least twice before Jan. 20, 2026; Harris Health said it is working to schedule meetings and is engaging the City of Houston, legal owner of the targeted land.

Design and resiliency features cited in reporting include an underground cistern, protected utility systems, a dual-fuel central utility plant, an impermeable underground utility tunnel and landscape enhancements. Specific capacity figures differ across reports: one account lists an 8-million-gallon cistern and a separate 8.5 million gallons of retention in crawl spaces, while other summaries reference an underground cistern without a gallons figure.

What happens next matters locally: the March 19 Chapter 26 hearing will be a formal public forum on whether the county can proceed with condemning parkland for hospital expansion. Neighbors, park users and healthcare stakeholders should watch the hearing schedule, review the Harris Health materials and follow meetings between Harris Health, the Hermann Park Conservancy and the City of Houston as officials weigh hospital capacity needs against preservation of public parkland.