WHERE FLOODWATERS WILL PARK DOWNTOWN The Buffalo Bayou Partnership helped the City of Houston and the Harris County Flood Control District acquire a just-under-2-acre site Downtown for $7.3 million last week: “The property, which is currently being used as a surface parking lot, is sandwiched between Buffalo Bayou on the north and Commerce on the south, stretching from La Branch to Caroline. Roughly half of the land was acquired from a 15-person investment group led by David Loftus. The other half was bought from members of the Loftus family. Loftus says he acquired the site in 2002 with plans to erect a parking garage. After hearing about civic leaders’ intentions for the land, Loftus says he decided to wait and sell it instead. The land will be used to widen the bayou in an effort to mitigate flooding. The site will also double as a park with hike and bike trails during dryer times. Both projects are a part of long-term visions for the bayou system.” [Houston Business Journal]
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Is this part of the BPA an Buffalo Bayou groups?
Good for them for getting the land.
At about $83 per square foot for a sizable contiguous chunk of downtown waterfront, that actually isn’t a terrible price.
“At about $83 per square foot for a sizable contiguous chunk of downtown waterfront, that actually isn’t a terrible price”
It actually makes it sound like there is such a thing as downtown waterfront amenity in Houston…besides the waterfront prison cells.
There is nice waterfront area starting from where Buffalo and White Oak Bayous meet and going west. But yeah, that area is one grim clot of human misery–the Harris County District Court and Criminal Courts and Sherrifs on one side, and across the bayou, the county jail (which, it must be said, at least looks nice).
Unfortunately, I can’t see how any hike and bike trails here will be able to connect with those further west.
Don’t forget the Kegans State Jail on the north side and the Federal Detention Center at Texas and San Jacinto (different than the federal building at San Jacinto and Rusk or the federal courthouse at Rusk and Smith).