HARLINGEN — Harlingen’s first public transit center will stand like a gateway into the city.
After decades of work in the city, Gignac Architects plans to design the $5.6 million transit center with the help of city leaders and residents, officials said Monday.
Last week, the city commissioners picked Gignac, with offices in Corpus Christi, Harlingen and McAllen, to design, engineer and manage the project.
“We kind of design for the community and the owners’ wishes,” architect Raymond Gignac said from his headquarters in Corpus Christi. “We’re going to design what kind of works for the community. It won’t be my call. It’s the city’s call — the owners’ call.”
The transit center’s site on North T Street off Interstate 69 will help make it a gateway into the city, City Manager Dan Serna said.
“That will give us a great opportunity,” Gignac, who has lived in Harlingen, said, referring to the project site.
At City Hall, Serna said the transit center’s design will reflect the city’s character.
“It can serve as a gateway,” he said. “It’s going to be highly visible. We’re really looking for something that’s going to stand out, reflect the community and be very aesthetically pleasing. We want a design that’s going to be functional.”
As part of the design process, officials will hold two public meetings to give residents a chance to help draft the blueprints for the transit center funded through a $5.6 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration, Ana Hernandez, the city’s mobility and special projects director, stated.
“There are plans to host two public information meetings to solicit feedback from the public regarding the terminal’s design,” she stated.
Topping the list
On Friday, Serna is set to begin negotiations with Gignac, whose fee is expected to range from about 4 to 7 percent of the total project cost.
“It depends on the project’s complexity and negotiations,” Serna said.
Last week, commissioners picked Gignac from a list of four top firms, with Laredo-based Able City as an alternate.
“When you get down to the real performance issues and whether they can do it or not and their experience, those are the top two companies,” Commissioner Richard Uribe said during the Aug. 4 meeting.
Commissioner Rene Perez also picked Gignac for the job.
“I like Gignac because I like how when they were doing their presentation they were saying how they were going to future-proof it — how they were going to, you know, get it ready not for what we need right now but for what we’re going to need in the future,” he said. “We don’t want it to go out of style.”
Mayor Chris Boswell noted the firm’s local ties.
“Gignac has a Harlingen office, and I think that’s a big plus,” he said.
Gignac’s area projects
Founded in 1985, the award-winning firm has specialized in transportation projects around the country, including regional projects such as South Padre Island’s WAVE Multi-Modal Transit Station and Brownsville’s Metro East Side Transfer Station.
For about 30 years, the firm’s worked in Rio Grande Valley, where its projects include the $62.5 million McAllen Convention Center.
For years, the firm’s worked with the Harlingen school district on numerous projects including the design and construction of schools such as Gutierrez and Vela Middle Schools and the Lee Means Elementary and Fine Arts Academy along with the district’s aquatics center.
Meanwhile, the firm’s work with the city includes projects such as Fire Station No. 4 on Glasscock Avenue.
Background
During about five years of planning, officials picked the project site based on its access to the highway system and the city’s main streets.
“It’s such a perfect site right off the expressway with easy access going in all directions,” Serna said. “That’s going to be highly visual and connected to our transportation system.”
In 2016, Harlingen’s updated 10-year master plan ranked the transit center as No. 13 on the city’s priority list.
Three years later, city officials paid $291,000 to buy the 1.8-acre site on which the old Cameron County Precinct 4 warehouse formerly stood, fulfilling the federal grant’s requirement for local money to help fund the project.
The city’s first public transit center will likely feature tall canopies looming over its open docking areas to include about six bus bays.
Meanwhile, the center’s terminal will likely feature bus lines’ ticket counters, a fast-food restaurant, a shop and office space, officials said.
Inside the terminal, customers might buy tickets to board buses operated by Valley Metro and such companies as Valley Transit Co. and Greyhound.
Other companies such as Adame, Tornado and El Expreso might offer service into Mexico.
With its central regional location, the transit center will serve as Valley Metro’s northern Cameron County hub.
Officials are counting on the center to help transform the area’s public transportation.
For decades, Valley Transit Co.’s station has served as the city’s bus center at 215 East Monroe Ave.
But the city has lacked a station to serve as a hub for bus lines bound for stops in the United States and Mexico.
So residents have boarded buses bound for stops in the United States and Mexico outside a Stripes convenience store on Tyler Avenue near the Interstate 69 interchange.
After a four-month design phase, officials expect an 18-month construction period before the transit center opens.
