Eleanor Tinsley Park getting a facelift

(SWA Group) (SWA Group) Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Eleanor Tinsley Park getting a facelift 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

Additional plans for the revitalization of Buffalo Bayou Parkwere laid out in a press release this week. Work on the park has already begun in earnest, with the timeline laid out on the Buffalo Bayou Park website.

And now Eleanor Tinsley Park is getting a new addition.

On Wednesday, a press release from the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and Silver Eagle Distributors announced that the beer distributor was kicking in $2 million for work to be done around the park, especially in the "big bowl, the event meadow where major gathering are held inside the park. This is where the main stage is located for Free Press Summer Fest, and where Freedom Over Houston's musical acts are stationed.

Work on the Bud Light Amphitheater will be finished by spring 2014, according to the press release.

The gift from the largest Anheuser-Busch distributor in the country will also bankroll the Skyline Overlook, redesigned parking spaces and an improved garden area, according to the release.

The aim is to create Houston's own version of Central Park, per the BBP site.

“One comparison we had is Ladybird Lake or Town Lake in Austin," project manager Guy Hagstette told KUHF on Wednesday. "This is 2.3 miles of linear park. Most cities would, you know, just die to have this kind of parkland at the doorstep of their downtown."



Omar Afra, editor of Free Press Houston and one of the men behind the annual summer music and art fest, says that the amphitheater work will be a part of the FPSF footprint but that they didn't have any say in the plans.

"Some changes work for us and some improvements could be problematic," said Afra. "We were not included in the discussion of the park."

Afra says what the amphitheater entails is a permanent platform for a concert stage and resources dug out for a production team.

According to the press release sent out this week, The Shady Grove sculpture, art benches and Houston Victim’s Memorial will be preserved and reinstalled in a redesigned and expanded garden in the park.

The entire project will cost $58 million. The project will be complete by 2015.