El Paso city works to bring transit hub to Medical Center of the Americas

The Medical Centers of the Americas is expected to grow in the coming years.New offices, including a dental school, bring the promise of nearly 700 new jobs, not including students.

This is giving Rep. Emma Acosta all the more motivation to bring a new Sun Metro Transit Center to the area.

Texas Tech is will add a new administrative building, research building and dental school. UMC is also building a new clinic. The MCA Foundation is putting the finishing touches on its new bio-tech research facility. We’re talking around 6,700 employees in just one area.

“We know we’re going to need parking,” Acosta said. “So this was a great opportunity to have a transit terminal.”

Acosta has been pushing for one and after a council voted this week, she’s one step closer.

“We just have to say that we are going to commit, we’re going to get this project done based on what this grant application is going to be,” said Jay Banasiak, the Sun Metro director.

First, Sun Metro has to fill out a grant application. It has to promise to match federal funds 40-60. We’re talking about 40 percent of $15 million.

“Texas Tech has already agreed that they want to partner with us,” Acosta said.

Texas Tech is offering to donate the land. The vision is to build a transit center next to El Paso’s medical center, next to the Department of Public Health, UMC and Texas Tech.

The center would be bigger than the one on Glory Road, offering around 800 parking spots. It would begin construction around the same time the Alameda Brio corridor is finishing up.

“You can take it from Downtown, from Northeast, any one of the corridors,” Acosta said. “So even for the students, it’s going to be a lot easier.”

She will know if the grant has been accepted around October, when congress finalizes its budget.