Discovery Green Park
| Discovery Green | |
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Discovery Green
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| Type | Municipal (Houston, Texas) |
| Location | Downtown Houston |
| Coordinates | 29°45′9″N 95°21′31″W / 29.75250°N 95.35861°W |
| Area | 11.78 acres (47,700 m2) |
| Created | 2008 |
| Operated by | Discovery Green Conservancy |
| Status | Open |
| Parking | 630-space underground parking garage |
Discovery Green is a public urban park in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Opened in 2008, Discovery Green 11.78-acre (47,700 m2) is located on Avenida de las Americas across from the George R. Brown Convention Center and the Hilton Americas Hotel, adjacent to Toyota Center. The park includes a lake, bandstands and venues for public performances, two dog runs, a children's area and multiple recreational areas. The park was principally designed by the landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates.
The first event held at the park was Houston Mayor Bill White's 2008 inauguration. The park officially opened to the public on April 13, 2008. It is estimated that almost a quarter-million people visited the park between opening day and June 30, 2008. The estimates were made by comparing the size of crowds with the Houston Police Department's estimate of 30,000 people who went to the park on opening day.
The City of Houston acquired a portion of the land in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center in 2002. 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. Kinder of the Kinder Foundation approached then-Mayor Bill White with their idea of turning the space into an urban park. The Mayor agreed and became a strong advocate of a public-private partnership was developed for the $125 million project. Several other philanthropic foundations joined the effort, including the Wortham Foundation and the Houston Endowment, Inc.
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.
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