Discovery green park houston series#

On 2016, the Marriott Marquis convention hotel was built north of the park. On 2011, the Hess Tower was built, a 29-story office building. A high-end residential tower that houses 346 units. An estimate of $1 billion worth of buildings, offices, hotels, and housing projects were added to the park's surroundings.

Elmore Public Relations was contracted for marketing and public relations.Įver since the opening in 2008, the park has added upon. A large team of local and international engineers and specialists supported the core design team. Artists Margo Sawyer and Doug Hollis were integral members of the design team and produced three works of art for the park. provided landscape and horticultural design services. Page designed the park's architecture and Larry Speck was their lead architect. Hargreaves Associates, an internationally renowned landscape architecture firm based in San Francisco, oversaw the design effort. This feedback became the basis for the park’s programming.

With the guidance of Project for Public Spaces, the Conservancy mounted the large public meetings and smaller focus groups to solicit public feedback. When the Houston City Council approved the contracts to provide partial funding and support to the park, it also mandated that the “public at large” be engaged in the design and development of the park. The City of Houston purchased the remainder of the land in 2004 and created the framework for the park’s construction and operations, including the role of the new organization, Discovery Green Conservancy, incorporated in 2004. Several other philanthropic foundations joined the effort, including the Wortham Foundation and the Houston Endowment, Inc. The Mayor agreed and became a strong advocate of a public-private partnership was developed for the $125 million project. Kinder of the Kinder Foundation approached then- Mayor Bill White with their idea of turning the space into an urban park. When the rest of the property went up for sale, a group of philanthropists led by Maconda Brown O’Connor of the Brown Foundation, and Nancy G. The City of Houston acquired a portion of the land in front of the George R. Discovery Green's public opening occurred on Apduring the first two months of operation, an estimated 250,000 people visited the park. The design of the park, led by landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates, began in 2005. Following the completion of land purchases in 2004, the Discovery Green Conservancy and the City jointly raised $125 million to construct the park.

Discovery green park houston series#

This partnership financed the purchase of a series of surface parking lots on the east side of Downtown. In the early 2000s, a public–private partnership between the City of Houston and a group of local philanthropic organizations, including the Kinder Foundation, was formed with the goal of constructing a new public green space in Downtown. Discovery Green features a lake, bandstands and venues for public performances, two dog runs, a playground, and multiple recreational lawns. Brown Convention Center and Avenida Houston entertainment district.

29☄5′9″N 95☂1′31″W / 29.75250°N 95.35861°W / 29.75250 -95.35861ĭiscovery Green is an 11.78-acre (47,700 m 2) public urban park in Downtown Houston, Texas, bounded by La Branch Street to the west, McKinney Street to the north, Avenida de las Americas to the east, and Lamar Street to the south.