New Montrose Park is Taking Shape, With a Tragic Murder Helping Drive the Transformation

More and more, Space City’s looking a little less gray and a little more green. Avondale Promenade Park, the new neighborhood park proposed by Houston City Council Member Ellen Cohen in 2014, is finally set to get underway.

The first steps to beautifying the vacant lot at 424 Westheimer are coming in August 2019, when construction will officially kick off. Construction on the new Montrose park is scheduled to be completed by 2020.

The City of Houston purchased the land back in 2015, and in 2017, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department was awarded a $1 million grant for the project.

“When completed, this neighborhood park will provide needed green space in a very densely built area and its amenities will blend beautifully with the community,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement.

This quarter-acre outdoor recreation spot is meant to welcome families, seniors and individuals of all abilities to enjoy Houston’s outdoors. Avondale Promenade Park will also be the permanent home of The Montrose Remembrance Garden.

What started as a tribute to 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhorn, who was stabbed to death near Montrose’s Blur Bar, has transformed into a memorial for LGBT victims all across Houston. The city’s pride parade used to pass through the garden before the parade was moved to Downtown.

Houston’s New Little Green Oasis

The 9,998-square-foot space borders the Avondale Historical District. The small-scale park will reflect the area’s history and culture with Craftsman-style architecture, which is featured in many homes in the district.

White Oak Studio, the firm responsible for the expansive McGovern Centennial Gardens in Hermann Park, has been tapped as the landscape architect for this Montrose park.

The 12-foot-wide red brick promenade will bisect the park diagonally. Its pavers will be engraved with references to the history of Avondale.

Avondale Promenade Park’s entryway off Westheimer will feature two stone Craftsman-style columns, complete with vintage light fixtures. Vintage light poles will also run down each side of the promenade. Picnic tables, games and porch swings will be spread throughout the entire park.

A children’s playground will sit to the east side of the park with all kinds of things to explore, from a chalk-art board and music play panels to talking tubes, geared for kids of all different abilities.

On the west side, you’ll find a shady shelter with park benches, an open plaza and two play areas.

Dogs can run and play off-leash in the north section of the park. To the south, there will be a nature path and unique pollination garden.

Other celebrations of nature: cypress trees, a wall of vining plants and the tower for small chimney swift birds. The park will have specially built chimney structures for them to flock onto.

Now that it’s been given the green light, this area’s set to go green.