{"id":130886,"date":"2026-01-20T21:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/130886\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T21:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:09:14","slug":"midway-endorses-downtown-water-taxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/130886\/","title":{"rendered":"Midway Endorses Downtown Water Taxi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Freels<\/a> desperately wants a Buffalo Bayou water taxi to serve Downtown Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The CEO of Houston-based Midway<\/a> said some think his desire is self-serving, since a water taxi could bring more visitors to Midway\u2019s East River development, which occupies 150 acres along Buffalo Bayou \u2014 but that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Courtesy of East River\n <\/p>\n

\n East River with Buffalo Bayou and the Houston skyline\n <\/p>\n

\u201cCut East River<\/a> completely out, I don\u2019t care,\u201d Freels said at Bisnow\u2019s 2026 Houston Executive Market Kickoff event at The Briar Club on Jan. 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freels said he has been trying for a year to talk Houston Mayor John Whitmire<\/a>\u00a0into the concept, which began floating around in early 2024<\/a>. The initial vision for the water taxi covered a 3- to 4-mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou, transporting passengers to and from restaurants, residences and workplaces.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Bisnow, Whitmire acknowledged a conversation with Freels but said the water taxi was a suggestion rather than a direct request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am working with the City of Houston Planning Department to develop a plan and review questions about costs, location, safety and who funds the project,” Whitmire said in the statement.<\/p>\n

A dock already exists, and minimal infrastructure would be required to implement the taxi, Freels said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s the shortest putt that can make the biggest difference in how Houston is perceived,\u201d Freels said at the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freels, a\u00a0longtime believer<\/a> in Downtown’s revitalization, wants to have a water taxi up and running before the FIFA World Cup 2026<\/a>, which is expected to bring half a million visitors to Houston.<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Bisnow\/Maddy McCarty\n <\/p>\n

\n The Signorelli Co.’s Danny Signorelli, Midway’s Brad Freels and Partners Real Estate’s Jon Silberman\n <\/p>\n

Boats could help show these visitors Houston\u2019s theaters, museums and other cultural attractions, including POST Houston<\/a>, the Downtown Aquarium and the Wortham Theater Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that can have a different face on it if we just look at it from a different angle,\u201d Freels said. \u201cIt just drives me crazy that Houston doesn’t take advantage of what we have to become a cultural hub and a tourist hub, because it’s there. We just don\u2019t take advantage of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If travelers see these attractions through a water taxi trip, they may go home\u00a0thinking, \u201cWow, Houston is pretty cool,\u201d and make plans to return, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Freels desperately wants a Buffalo Bayou water taxi to serve Downtown Houston. The CEO of Houston-based Midway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56215,8226,56214,56,58,57,3743,55600,56216],"class_list":{"0":"post-130886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-brad-freels","9":"tag-buffalo-bayou","10":"tag-east-river","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-headlines","13":"tag-houston-news","14":"tag-john-whitmire","15":"tag-midway","16":"tag-water-taxi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}