Memorial Park has long been renowned as Houston’s preeminent green space. The park, which covers 1,500 acres of the city’s inner loop, boasts a handful of sports fields, playgrounds, picnic tables, a nationally recognized municipal golf course and over thirty miles of running, walking, biking and hiking trails. As a recent unanimous vote proved though, the city isn’t prepared to just sit pat and enjoy the existing space. In April, Houston City Council approved a master plan designed to restore, improve and maintain the park.

The master plan, which could cost up to $300 million, was produced by Houston’s Parks and Recreation Department, the Memorial Park Conservancy and the Uptown tax increment reinvestment zone. In an article for the Houston Chronicle, Mike Morris notes, “the plan was developed through months of public meetings, surveys and workshops with park users, and incorporated research from local experts on such matters as soil ecology, hydrology, archaeology, history and traffic.” Landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz headed up the design process. With City Council’s approval, the project will now move forward, with the plan set to be steadily laid out over the next twenty years.

Memorial Park is nearly twice as large as New York’s Central Park. That may surprise you because it doesn’t necessarily feel like that’s the case. The separation of the north and south sides of the park by Memorial Drive makes it feel significantly smaller than it really is. Thomas Woltz, principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz, feels that the massive green space isn’t living up to its 1,500 acre size and sees its lack of unity as one of the park’s biggest problems. His solution? The creation of two land bridges that will cross Memorial Drive. The bridges, by rising over newly created tunnels, will reconnect the north and south sides of Memorial Park. Woltz recognizes that having a major street running through the middle of a park still isn’t ideal, but states that the land bridges are “a kind of triumph...the park wins.”

Molly Glentzer, in a Chronicle article about the initial planning, explains how Woltz has also incorporated the area’s past into the plan. Centuries ago, when the region was home to the Karankawas, the landscape was a mixture of savannah, wetlands and prairies. Woltz plans to incorporate each of these terrains into the remodeled park. The area’s more recent past will be remembered too. Camp Logan, a World War I training camp, used to occupy much of park. As a result, the park was named to honor those who lost their lives serving the country during the war. Those soldiers will now be commemorated by a Memorial Grove of pine trees, planted in straight lines like soldiers at attention.

Improvement of the park’s ecosystem is another major focus of the master plan. The area is still feeling the effects of the 2011 drought, but Woltz and his crew intend to make it a thing of the past. One such way is by prominently featuring irrigation systems in the retooled park. That includes a natural pond system which could also be used to irrigate Memorial golf course. Fire suppression systems and improved drainage will be incorporated into the park’s landscape as well.

Other major features of the plan include increasing the number of parking spaces by 30 percent, moving the park’s ballfields to a sports complex in its northeast corner, a wildlife observation tower, an indoor pool, a new running track and an improved driving range. The plan will take some time to come to fruition as it should be about two decades before the remodeled park is completely realized. But it should be exciting to watch it come along. And, honestly, it looks like it’ll be well worth the wait.

Looking to buy or sell a home or just want to discuss Memorial Park's makeover? Always feel free to contact me at 713.829.3052 or cynthia@cynthiamullins.com.

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