The forest of columns behind the newly planted trees above are most of what’s left of the original central plaza structure in Second Ward’s Guadalupe Plaza Park, which the Greater East End Management District says will reopen on July 30th as several years of de- and re-construction work are wrapped up. The 1980s park now caps the western end of the previously redone Navigation Blvd. esplanade, and a landscaped sidewalk now connects the park to Buffalo Bayou at the crossing of Jensen Rd. (right across from the 136-acre KBR campus recently purchased by mixed-use developer Midway).
Here’s the view looking south along the walkway toward the main square from alongside cultural center Talento Bilingue, which the management district says won’t be knocked down until funding is in place to rebuild it:Â
“The big money is coming from private donations (Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Hermann Park Conservancy, Memorial Park Conservancy), most likely with ‘strings attached’ that require that they must be used in a specific park. I’m sure the Parks and Rec people would love to do more special projects in the neighborhood parks, but it’s also going to require someone with deep pockets to step up for them.” [
“The age of confinement is over,” 
“What Downtown really needs is repeat performances for park spaces like Discovery Green and Market Square. Tranquility Park is a dud. . . . Jones Plaza is also a misfire in that all the activity inside the plaza is invisible from the street. The city should snatch up a parking lot or two over by Minute Maid as another amenity for all the new multifamily going in over there and new office construction. The same goes for the southern part of Downtown near where the twin Skyhouses are. Parks get people out and moving around downtown. It is too difficult to redo all the ground floor development in Downtown to make it more street friendly — it is what it is. But a couple of really nice parks can really help push more ground floor development, and help support existing ground floor retail/restaurant development.” [
Reworking the Rothko Chapel’s lighting scheme is high on the wishlist of things to fund with proceeds from an online auction opening this Monday, David Leslie tells Cara Smith of the HBJ. While no specific plans to modify the space are set yet, the chapel’s executive director 
