Shared from the 3/13/2021 Houston Chronicle eEdition

Construction begins on a new park that will add green space downtown

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Marie D

. De Jesús / Staff photographer

Downtown Redevelopment Authority President Bob Eury grabs a shovel at the groundbreaking of the future Trebly Park.

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Marie D. De Jesús / Staff photographer

Trebly Park will be located on most of a block in south downtown Houston.

City officials broke ground Friday on a new park in south downtown that by next year will provide the area with its first addition of major green space since Discovery Green opened more than a decade ago.

The park will take up most of the block surrounded by Bell, Fannin, Leeland and San Jacinto streets, replacing a Goodyear Auto Service Center. It will include a central lawn area, gardens on the north and south sides, dog runs for large and small breeds, water features and art installations, and a second location of Tout Suite, the East Downtown cafe. Construction is expected to wrap up next March.

Officials have dubbed the new area Trebly Park, a nod to the three street corners surrounding the park, and the implication that “there’ll be three times as much here for everybody who lives in the neighborhood and who visits,” said Bob Eury, president of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority. The project previously had gone by the name of Southern Downtown Park.

It will be fully funded by the area’s tax increment reinvestment zone, a special district that captures any increases in property tax revenue beyond the base amount collected when the zone was established. The additional revenue, or the increment, funds improvements within the zone, such as the new park.

The Downtown Redevelopment Authority administers funds collected by the tax increment reinvestment zone. The Downtown Management District, also overseen by Eury, will manage the park, similar to its oversight of Market Square Park.

Officials have budgeted $9.5 million through the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, to cover the cost of planning, designing and building the park, along with acquiring the land, according to budget documents.

The redevelopment authority is leasing the space from a privately held trust. In October, it began making annual rent payments of $355,992, the rate for the first five years of a 30-year lease. The rate will increase by 10 percent every five years, according to a spokeswoman.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said the project is part of city leaders’ ongoing efforts to bring more parks and green space to downtown, such as the renovation of Jones Plaza farther north. Those types of investments will spur further growth, Turner said, adding that when he was growing up, the central business district would become “dead” after everyone left work for the day.

“When I grew up in this city, there were probably, other than the hotels, I don’t think there was anybody living downtown. And now we have about 10,000 people living downtown,” he said. “The developments have led to the design and construction of this park, and at the same time, the parks are leading to residential and other transit-oriented development downtown.”

The park also will include a B-Cycle station, bike racks and a bike repair station, along with outdoor seating areas and a play structure for children. An art installation at the northern entrance of the park — near Fannin and Bell streets — will rotate every two years, according to redevelopment authority officials. The Tout Suite cafe will hold room for about 70 guests indoors and 48 outside.

Rebecca Schuetz contributed to this report. jasper.scherer@chron.com

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