Houston Redevelopment Plan Hits Milestone

6/4/2006 Houston, TX -- A Houston waterfront project -- the first part of an $800 million plan to redevelop the area around the Buffalo Bayou -- has been completed. The Buffalo Bayou Master Plan -- originally envisioned by Jack Blanton, chairman of Texas' largest charitable foundation, Houston Endowment Inc. -- calls for extensive redevelopment of the waterfront. Plans call for more urban designs on the downtown side but a more natural feel on the west end, The Houston Chronicle reported.

"It's a transition between the urban and the pastoral," said the project's chief designer, Kevin Shanley. Plans call for creating new bike and hiking trails and a park expansion at the site of Houston's founding, Allen's Landing.

Houstonians are invited to the grand opening of this new 23-acre park in downtown Houston Saturday, June 10th.. The Sabine-to-Bagby Promenade is a newly developed stretch along the banks of Buffalo Bayou, featuring jogging and biking trails, lush landscape and most noteworthy, the first of several planned pedestrian bridges to connect the north and south sides of the bayou. Call 713-752-0314 ext.7 for more info.