Longtime stalled plans to redevelop the dilapidated Metropolitan Multi-Service center are now back in motion. 

The Houston Parks and Recreation Department, the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities and District C Councilmember Abbie Kamin held the first of at least two community listening sessions on April 23 to gather input from facility users, community members and stakeholders to share their perspectives and, ultimately, help shape the future of the MMSC. 

“I’m amazed at the turnout,” said Kamin, who represents the area the MMSC is housed in.

But before putting pen to paper, Kamin announced the recent acquisition of $11.5 million for capital improvements at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center. The funds will also provide initial seed funding for the facility’s expansion and redevelopment to address its deterioration after decades of neglect.

“We have to keep our foot on the pedal,” Kamin said to the Landing. “At a time when the city is under serious financial constraints, it’s a very exciting, thrilling opportunity. It’s a very big deal.”

The funds were previously designated for the Freed-Montrose library renovation, but reallocated  toward the MMSC after Montrose Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 27 approved a budget amendment at its April 21 meeting, requested by Mayor John Whitmire and Kamin. 

“TIRZ 27 takes great pride in joining the effort to address the much-needed improvements at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center and surrounding amenities that serve a diversity of needs for our city, and we are happy to support this project,” said Matt Brollier, Chair, Montrose TIRZ 27, in a released statement.

Kamin said it was hard to justify the need for the Freed renovation given its proximity to the new library at the Montrose Collective.

The budget proposal unanimously passed City Council on Wednesday. Kamin is confident that the measure will encourage other funders to support the expansion efforts.

“This is just the beginning,” she said.

At the April 23 meeting, Jamie Flatt, principal at Houston architecture firm Page, led a community idea-gathering session in which attendees could express their concerns, offer community priorities and provide input on future redevelopment efforts.

Sticky notes with suggestions filled the many large, white easels spread throughout the gym.

While many requested more gym and classroom space, more arts and theater programming, improved accessibility, and improved security and check-in/code of conduct process, others focused on more immediate needs, like better communication when the pool is going to be closed.

While “it was dreamy,” many were unclear what Page consultants could do for the community, said Amie Jean, a commissioner with the Houston Commission on Disabilities. 

“People didn’t understand that you are trying to build something,” she said, noting she suggested Page craft a video of the builder’s process. “We don’t understand where we fit in. … People can say their needs but this is not what you’re here for.”

During the discussion portion of the meeting, Jean said Flatt indicated that Page Architects was not equipped to handle the facility’s urgent issues, such as the HVAC system repairs. Flatt instead suggested community members focus on how the $11.5 million could be used to meet those urgent needs.

“There’s a lot of interconnected considerations that are complicated and there’s not one entity that can go back into a dark room or a drafting table and figure it out,” Flatt said. “It has to be discussed as a community, and weighing the different possible options or serving the different needs is really how we move it forward. So it’s complicated, and that’s why it hasn’t happened already.”

But by stepping back from the drawing board and listening to the community first, Flatt is confident that together they’ll eventually come up with a suitable plan that works for everyone.

“We will do it better when we are starting from these critical voices and users,” she said to the Landing following the meeting.

The approach is a stark contrast from the last time Page got involved on the project in the summer of 2023 under the late former Mayor Sylvester Turner. Then, the city paid for a schematic design that incorporated private, mixed-use developments surrounding the facility based solely on speculation to envision the site’s capacity. But the plan was met with sharp skepticism by avid facility users over accountability and fear of involving the private sector when it was introduced at community meetings Aug. 29 and Sept. 20, 2023, because the plan was shared with the community afterwards. 

This time around, Flatt said they’re doing things the right way by asking the community first for input and then coming up with ideas to shape the redevelopment together. 

“We can’t consider what it could be without respecting what it is and how it must be,” Flatt said. “That was premature. It was just out of order.”

Among the top critics has been James “Jimmy” Walker, who has been coming to the MMSC for physical rehab since 2006, about a year after his transverse myelitis diagnosis.

His primary concern was the facility leaving the public ownership — fears that have since subsided, he said after the April 23 meeting. 

“It [feels] different now,” Walker said. “We got assurances from the city council person that it would remain in the public domain.” 

Flatt said Page Architects plans to take what they’ve heard and collected at this initial meeting and invite more input to make sure they correctly capture it. 

A date has not been set yet for the second meeting.

“We’re going to give folks another chance,” she said. “And at that point, we might have a better understanding and be able to talk more specifically about what is the next step after this engagement.”

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