Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
A notice about closing part of Polk Street is posted near the intersection of Polk and Hamilton streets on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Houston.
After months of contentious community engagement, the Houston City Council took the first of two votes on Wednesday that would lead to the closure of a two-block section of Polk Street — a major thoroughfare connecting vehicular, cyclist and pedestrian traffic from the East End to downtown.
The move comes ahead of the $2 billion expansion of the Houston First Corporation’s George R. Brown Convention Center, which calls for the closure of Polk and a few neighboring side streets adjacent to the current building. The project’s impact on east-west connectivity sparked community backlash, prompting the formation of grassroots group People for Polk, members of which spoke out against the closure at almost all of the city council’s public comment sessions so far this year.
Council member Joaquin Martinez — who represents the downtown and East End areas and also holds a non-voting position on the Houston First board — was among the 14 votes in favor of the measure. He said he was initially “very disappointed” in February, when Houston First kicked off the process of closing the street without prior community engagement.
Since then, Martinez said, he “expressed my commitment to championing east-west connection to ensure connectivity.” That work culminated in a related agreement unanimously approved on Wednesday that attaches strings to the eventual closure.
Signed by Houston First, the city’s public works department and Martinez, the agreement requires “ongoing public engagement in Spanish and English,” collaboration with community groups to “identify mobility and connectivity alternatives in the area,” the creation of a community advisory board to provide input on the convention center expansion — and, in the most direct steps toward connectivity, maintaining pedestrian access along Polk Street and evaluating the conversion of nearby Leeland Street into a two-way road.
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Still, the agreement wasn’t met with enthusiasm by People for Polk. The group had called for a more encompassing Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with a specific price tag — demanding Houston First invests $250 million “in infrastructure, mobility, and engagement improvements.”
“We were never consulted about the contents of the (new agreement), and it’s a very watered down version of the CBA that we proposed,” said People for Polk co-founder Amy Erickson. “It does not address our points and our desires accurately. We hope, moving forward, that there will be another chance to strengthen the (new agreement) and strengthen community commitments.”
Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
Michael Heckman, president and CEO of the Houston First Corporation, speaks to the Houston City Council on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.
Martinez said the new agreement took elements of People for Polk’s requests into account. Council member Edward Pollard — the sole dissenting vote on Wednesday — echoed the group’s perspective that there was inadequate community engagement throughout the process.
City officials have long promised the conversion of nearby Leeland Street into a two-way road as a short-term step to ease the loss of Polk Street. But the new agreement only calls for the parties to “evaluate the best utilization of Leeland Street … including the feasibility of two-way traffic with pedestrian access.” Pressed about the lack of certainty, Houston First president and CEO Michael Heckman was reluctant to make a guarantee before the design process is complete.
“I don’t want to prejudge things that come back,” Heckman told Houston Public Media. “It is our intention — let me be very clear — it is our intention to turn Leeland into a two-way, and that is what we are working every day with public works and the city for that outcome.”
The abandonment was not finalized on Wednesday. The measure approved by the city council, “acknowledging the concept” of the Polk Street sale, kicked off appraisal, planning and legal processes. Once those steps are complete, the city council will vote again to finalize the sale to Houston First. A spokesperson for Houston First said officials are “still reviewing the timeline” of the closure process.