ANAHEIM, Calif.— HOK, the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm, has won along with Parsons Brinckerhoff the commission for a major transit center in downtown Anaheim that will create a new city landmark while helping to anchor the state’s planned high-speed rail network. The $180 million, 16-acre project will include a 66,000-square-foot station and a master plan for a mixed-used area around it.

Besides being a hub for Amtrak, commuter rail, and other regional transit lines — dramatically improving the region’s public transportation offerings — the project is expected to spur development in the city. The site around the station will have office, retail, and high-density housing, and the center eventually will be equipped to host California high-speed rail from the north and south, although federal funding is still pending for the state’s high-speed network. Construction in Anaheim should begin in 2011, with an opening set for 2013. HOK beat out some of the world’s top architectural talent to win the coveted commission, RMJM with Gehry Partners, Santiago Calatrava, Pelli Clarke Pelli, SOM, and Foster + Partners.

Read more at the Architects’ Newspaper.