College Station’s Northeast Gateway envisions a vibrant urban entrance to the City of College Station and Texas A&M University while revitalizing the city’s original commercial center.
The plan envisions a vibrant urban entrance along the eastern edges of the Texas A&M University Campus, revitalizing aging big-box retail centers and the city's original commercial center with innovative design.
The plan targets development at key intersections, focusing amenities, diverse housing, and jobs near Texas A&M.
Scenario modeling allowed stakeholders and the community to visualize and refine a preferred vision for urban design and development while understanding tradeoffs.
The continued growth of Texas A&M University and the City of College Station has led to new demands for amenities, housing, and employment opportunities in close proximity to the flagship campus. The plan focused near the intersection of Texas Avenue and University Drive, where aging strip shopping centers and office buildings provide opportunities for urban infill and improved pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, as well as the historic Eastgate shopping center dating from College Station’s initial incorporation.
Asakura Robinson supported the City’s staff team by conducting historic research, economic analysis, and scenario modeling, developing the plan’s recommendations and analyses, and creating conceptual and illustrative graphics to communicate the plan’s desired outcomes. The scenario modeling process explored three potential outcomes envisioned within the bounds of the City’s comprehensive plan, including big-box store retrofit and the full redevelopment of an “urban village” concept. Urban design considerations were closely aligned with economic models and utility planning assumptions: the modeling outputs included estimates of housing units, retail and office square footages, and estimated property and sales tax revenues per acre to illustrate the impacts of different land use mixes and intensities.
After receiving community input on the scenarios, the project team worked with City staff to develop a refined preferred scenario with illustrative renderings as well as detailed recommendations for street sections, land use changes, and urban design standards.
