Memorial Park restoration gets a $70 million boost City council must still approve the largest greenspace gift in Houston's history

A rendering of the "central connector" land bridge that will reconnect the north and south portions of Memorial Park across Memorial Drive with a prairie ecosystem and drainage infrastructure. A rendering of the "central connector" land bridge that will reconnect the north and south portions of Memorial Park across Memorial Drive with a prairie ecosystem and drainage infrastructure. Photo: Memorial Park Conservancy Photo: Memorial Park Conservancy Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Memorial Park restoration gets a $70 million boost 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Call them Mr. and Mrs. Green.

Super-philanthropists Nancy and Rich Kinder, who have already donated $106 million to various greenspace projects across Houston in the past decade or so, have offered the Memorial Park Conservancy a $70 million grant, the largest single parks gift in the city's history.

Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the proposed gift during a press briefing Wednesday before the conservancy was to present an amended agreement to its master plan to city council's quality of life committee. The matter will then proceed to full council for a vote next week.

Memorial Park plan: The 2015 vote that passed.

The Kinders' grant, through their Kinder Foundation, will be "top-loaded" to fast-track the largest, priority projects of a master plan designed by the landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz and approved by the city in 2015. The goal is to finish those projects within ten years.

Details of the plan are HoustonChronicle.com.

Molly Glentzer writes about arts, culture and parks for the Houston Chronicle.