"A space station" is desireable. The lunar gateway, though, as designed, is very much about Artemis. The Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit[1] was designated because of constraints on the Orion capsule that will be attached during crewed operations, at least this was relayed to me directly by NASA personnel during a Q&A.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-rectilinear_halo_orbit