The Mexican consulate will relocate to southwest Houston next year to make way for the planned massive rebuild of the downtown freeway system, taking up residence on a parcel of land currently owned by the state of Texas.

The Texas Transportation Commission last week approved a plan to swap two parcels totaling about 1.7 acres near San Jacinto and Interstate 69 — now home to the Consulate of the United Mexican States — for three acres of state-owned land in Westchase at Richmond and Rogerdale, near the Sam Houston Tollway.

The consulate, easily visible from I-69 between Spur 527 and I-45, will relocate to the new land next year, spokeswoman Valeria Ramirez Siller said.

“The move to a larger building with improved facilities will allow us to offer yet better services to the Mexican community we serve,” she said in a statement.

The land swap, approved Thursday, secures a critical piece of property as the Texas Department of Transportation plans to remake the downtown freeway system as part of a $7 billion-plus rebuild of Interstate 45 from downtown Houston north toward Bush Intercontinental Airport. Part of the plan includes depressing I-69 and remaking the interchanges with I-45 and Texas 288, along with reconnecting area streets.

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Work on the massive project, which remains controversial in many of the communities affected, is slated to start at the southern end, close to the existing Mexican Consulate.

The new consulate location adds Mexican government officials to what is by some standards the embassy row of Houston. Numerous foreign governments have consulate or embassy offices in the Westchase area near Richmond and the tollway, including Costa Rica, Honduras, Indonesia, the Phillipines and the Netherlands.

The consulate provides a host of services to Mexicans living in Houston and the surrounding region, including legal assistance and aid related to vital records and travel documents. Siller said those assistance efforts will not suffer because of the relocation.

“Considering that we cover 13 percent of the State of Texas, we reaffirm our commitment to remain close to all our people with initiatives like the Consulate On Wheels and the Mobile Consulate, with which we provide services more than 70 miles away from our office,” she said.

dug.begley@chron.com