by Kandiss Edwards
February 13, 2026
Harris County invested $200 million within the property protecting acquisition and redevelopment prices.
An extended-vacant hospital in Houston’s Third Ward is ready to reopen as a group well being and providers heart after Harris County authorized a plan to accumulate and renovate the property.
County commissioners voted to maneuver ahead with buying the previous Riverside Common Hospital campus on Ennis Road. The redevelopment plan consists of reworking the location right into a hub that may home the Harris County Well being Division and supply expanded well being and social providers to residents.
The power was based within the Nineteen Twenties because the Houston Negro Hospital to serve Black sufferers throughout segregation. It later turned Riverside Common Hospital and operated for many years earlier than closing in 2015, following the arrest of 12 staff by the FBI for Medicaid fraud.
Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who mentioned he was born on the then-Riverside Common Hospital, informed ABC13 that the reopening is deliberate for Feb. 28, the ultimate day of Black Historical past Month, in honor of its origins as a Black-serving house.
“Right here within the shadows of the biggest, most prestigious medical heart on this planet, there are a lot of individuals who don’t have entry to healthcare,” Ellis mentioned. “This constructing shall be part of that package deal to provide individuals who can’t afford nice medical health insurance like we now have, that they too should be revered and might come right here for providers.”
Former volunteer Dorothy Booker, 92, mirrored on her time on the hospital in an interview with ABC13. “I’m proud to be part of one thing that began in my life, superior in my life, that I used to be in a position to assist anyone,” Booker mentioned.
The county’s funding within the property is roughly $200 million, protecting acquisition and redevelopment prices. The restored campus is predicted to supply coordinated providers, together with healthcare entry and different public help applications.
The previous Negro Hospital constructing is listed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations; as such, county leaders view the undertaking as a approach to restore a traditionally important website whereas increasing entry to public well being providers within the Third Ward group.
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