To accelerate the visionary Memorial Park Master Plan, the Kinder Foundation offered a gift of $70 million to Memorial Park Conservancy in April 2018. Houston’s largest single parks gift served as a catalyst for public-private partnership with the City of Houston. The Kinder Foundation gift specifies that Memorial Park Conservancy will raise the remaining $55 million of the total $125 million in private funding, with the City committing to a $50 million public dollar investment for infrastructure improvements. It also leverages the potential for $30 million in federal support.
he foundation’s grant supports connectivity to and within the park including a land bridge and prairie over Memorial Drive; destination projects Eastern Glades, Memorial Groves, and the Sports Complex; and ecological restoration. Other plan additions include a trail/bridge system north over I-10, linking the White Oak Bayou Greenway trail system, and south over Buffalo Bayou; a 1.5-mile accessibility trail through the 600-acre wilderness, and other trails and crossings. See the full Memorial Park Master Plan approved by Houston City Council in 2015.
The Clay Family Eastern Glades opened to critical acclaim in July 2020 and the Land Bridge and Prairie will open for vehicular traffic in Spring 2022 and be completed Fall of 2022.
memorialparkconservancy.orgNews & Press
- EASTBOUND MEMORIAL DRIVE TUNNELS NOW OPEN TO ONE-WAY VEHICULAR TRAFFIC —Press Release
- Memorial Park eastbound tunnel opens to traffic —KHOU-TV
- Memorial Park tunnels open to eastbound drivers, marking new milestone in park’s transformation —Houston Chronicle
- First phase of Memorial Drive tunnels set to open —Houston Business Journal
- Houstonians and their pets join Nancy and Rich Kinder for Memorial Park Land Bridge preview party —Houston Chronicle
- Memorial Park land bridge takes big step forward with new tunnels —Houston Chronicle
- Memorial Park land bridge project to bring new views to Houston —Click2Houston.com
- Artificial lake fulfills many roles in a new Houston park —Civil Engineering Source (ASCE)
- How the Kinder Foundation makes parks happen —Houston Chronicle
- ‘An audacious idea’: Construction begins on Memorial Park land bridge —Houston Chronicle
- Memorial Park unveils the highly anticipated, 100-acre Eastern Glades —Houston Chronicle
- Uptown Houston President John Breeding talks transit, infrastructure and the pedestrian experience —Houston Chronicle
- Memorial Park masterminds reveal new timeline for game-changing master plan —CultureMap Houston
- Conservation, Recreation A Balancing Act For Memorial Park Renewal In Houston —Forbes
- Record crowds attend Memorial Park Conservancy’s “Picnic for the Park” at the Forest Club —Houston Chronicle
- New Memorial Park Master Plan Gets a Forest Club Boost —PaperCity