East Downtown (EaDo) Promenade & Houston Dynamo Stadium

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by Spade

I've seen the renderings. Very impressive. Love the exterior.

You'll love this one.

In my first post, I posted a picture of something called "Shen Shen Gardens" that Houston & Shenzen, China (Houston's Sister City in China) are planning to build. But now instead of one garden, they're building 17 of them, one each for every Sister City Houston has (17 of them).

An excerpt:

Preliminary concepts show an 80-foot right of way that spans six blocks on Bastrop from Bell to Walker, taking on a new identity called the Sister Cities Promenade.
The pedestrian-themed park will lead to the door step of the future Dynamo stadium.
"We intend to have sculptures and possibly fountains and related park," said Jim Olive with the Houston-Shenzen Sister City Association.
The Sister Cities of Houston is still months away from finalizing a design and breaking a ground, but the multicultural promenade will likely feature 17 gardens representing each sister city of Houston.
Planners also want it to be an integral part of experiencing a Dynamo game.

Source: Pedestrian-themed park in the works for Houston's east end thanks to future Dynamo stadium | abc13.com

Good timing too, because looks like the Forbidden Gardens in Katy is about to close, due to them starting construction on Segment E of Grand Parkway (SH-99).

Which sucks, because Forbidden Gardens was one of the greatest cultural places in Houston, and the ONLY one like it in North America. I hope they move it else where in the city rather than closing down forever.

Source: Out of the Way, Tiny Soldiers, Here Comes the Grand Parkway: Katy’s Forbidden Gardens Is Closing Down » Swamplot: Houston’s Real Estate Landscape

I'm a bit of a pack rat, I like to keep the old and get new stuff, and just add everything all in without getting rid of anything. But the timing is so coincidental that when you think about it, we're losing Forbidden Gardens (admittingly to stupid road construction) but we're getting this in the same time frame anyways (So I guess its like a trade off?):

[Trae713]

If you look at the GP plans, it goes to the right of Forbidden Gardens. That place is closing due to declining attendance and financial reasons. The GP excuse is just that...an excuse.

[nate4l1f3]

Any updates on proposals in this thread? What else is going on in EDo?

[Dopo]

I'm sure this was widely reported by the Houston media (sarcasm) but I'll go ahead and share it



BBVA Compass Stadium wins multiple Houston Business Journal Landmark Awards | Houston Dynamo - April 13th, 2013 (last week)

BBVA Compass Stadium, an AEG Facilities venue, claimed two awards as one of the Houston’s most influential real estate projects at the Houston Business Journal 2013 Landmark Awards.

BBVA Compass Stadium was awarded two of the four nominations, including Public Assembly and Public-Private Partnership. The stadium, home of the 2012 Eastern Conference Champion Houston Dynamo and Texas Southern University college football, was also a finalist in the Community Impact and Hospitality/Entertainment categories.


Houston Business Journal’s Landmark Awards recognizes real estate projects that have made a significant impression on the Houston landscape. For consideration, projects had to be in the 10-county Houston area and have been completed in 2012.

BBVA Compass Stadium was an integral part of Houston’s plan to redevelop the east downtown area, and was five years in the making. The design made use of simple and common materials that referred to the industrial heritage of its location while creating a distinctive civic landmark. The stadium sits on 12-acres near Highway 59 and Minute Maid Park, anchoring the East End of downtown Houston. The 340,000-square-foot structure seats 22,000 fans and features 33 suites and 3 party suites lining the lower bowl less than 10 rows from the pitch. The venue’s 90,000 square feet of natural grass playing surface is ideal for soccer, football, lacrosse and rugby events in addition to concerts, festivals and private events.

The Houston Amateur Sports Park (HASP), managed by the Houston Dynamo, was also nominated and a finalist for Public-Private Partnership. The sports park is a multi-field facility built to address the lack of sports-specific recreational facilities in the Houston area. The property includes seven soccer fields, field lights, parking and a sports facility.

In addition to winning 2013 Landmark Awards, BBVA Compass Stadium was also awarded the LEED® Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council as Pioneering Example of New Construction Sustainable Design. The stadium team was recently named 2012 Marketer of the Year Best in Category-Sports/Entertainment Venue and the Houston Dynamo were named Best in Category-Professional Sports Team by the Houston chapter of the American Marketing Association.