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A reader sent in a larger version of the above photo to the Brazosport News. It shows the first giant presidential heads in place at Pearland’s new Presidential Park. Eventually, the remaining 37-member contingent of very-white sculpted U.S. presidents will join them, and the surrounding swampland will be transformed into a lovely green space, separated from a new shopping, retail, office, and hotel development by . . . a watergate! For now, though, the scene sure does look like only a few presidential giants have managed to keep their heads out of the mud.
The winners of an online vote to select which five of sculptor David Adickes’s giant busts should be the first to move to the park were Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Kennedy — even though more recent Oval Office residents had far better ballot position. But democracy has its limits: Richard Browne, developer of the adjacent Waterlights District, decided to include the statue of former president George H.W. Bush in the first group anyway. All six made their head-turning trip down 288 from Adickes’s First Ward studio on Presidents’ Day.
Missed your chance to participate in the online presidential headcount? A separate ballot asks you to select which chain restaurants you want to appear in the Waterlights District, though its unclear if polling has already been closed.
Read on for a sketch of the Waterlights District, and another view of ex-presidents keeping their noses clean. Plus: a dated image of President John F. Kennedy, cut out of our version of the photo above . . . because he was too far to the right.
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Read more about: 77583, Art, Mixed Use, Parks, Pearland, Proposed Developments, Public Art, Sculpture
November 6, 2007 – 10:48 am
Why do we need the Grand Parkway? To connect all those new green-living communities spreading way out into the Texas prairie!
An Arizona development company is master-planning a master-planned community for a tiny 4,000-plus-acre plot in Alvin, linking the Grand Parkway, FM 1462, and highway 288. Yes, that’s bigger than Shadow Creek Ranch.
It’s called Inspiration at Alvin, if you believe the mayor, or Inspiration @ Chocolate Bayou if you believe the Aperion Communities website.
Alvin mayor Gary Appelt announced that the expected population when the project is built out — in 30 years — is 25,000 people. That’s just over six people per acre. No wonder they’re calling it green!
Inspiration is the first lifestyle enhanced sustainable community model ever created. It’s where Aperion’s programs for energy, health, business and transportation are connected directly to your home.
The company website lists the development at a just-slightly larger 5,500 acres, which means residents will have even more room to spread their windmills. Aperion is also threatening a 6,000-acre development called Inspiration @ Lake Houston. All in all, there are five Inspiration communities proposed for Texas and two for New Mexico. That’s more than 36,434 acres of currently wasted farms and ranchland transformed into sustainable, productive living spaces. Go green!
Read more about: 77511, 77583, Alvin, Brazoria County, Grand Parkway, Green Communities, Master-Planned Communities, Sprawl
Pearlanders excited about the Dillards, Macy’s, Barnes & Noble, and other typical mall fare that will become available to them when the new Pearland Town Center opens next summer will likely find even more excitement when they learn they’ll be able to drive right up to their favorite stores!
And no, it won’t be a Big Box center. (At least . . . not at first.) It’ll be just like a mall, except it’ll be open-air. It’ll be just like an outlet mall, except the streets will be tighter and more “urban.” It’ll be just like a downtown shopping district, except . . . it’ll be surrounded by a sea of parking!
And just what premium will shoppers be willing to pay for the chance they might be able to grab one of the few head-in spaces right in front of the Great American Cookie Co.? Once they’re in the outer parking areas, will they take a chance and wait patiently in traffic for the possibility there might just be a head-in space available there, or maybe in front of Victoria’s Secret?
Or . . . will all those premium close-in spaces go valet?
How much of a traffic backup will this new mall design cause? More on that, plus more artist renderings of the new mall, after the jump.
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Read more about: 77583, Malls, New Construction, Parking, Pearland, Pearland-Town-Center, REITs, Retail, Shopping Centers
