Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Tuesday that the 4400 block of Reed Road is the proposed location for a new multi-service center –which will include a health clinic— and a community park, in the Sunnyside neighborhood, located in south Houston.
During its Wednesday meeting, the Houston City Council is scheduled to vote on two Agenda items to acquire land and move forward with the project, which is budgeted at $25 million and is included in the City's Capital Improvement Plan.
The new multi-service center would be constructed on a 6.5 acre tract, while the park would be built on 1.47 adjacent acres that are in a part of Houston which the City's Parks and Recreation Department has designated as an area with a “very high need” for a park, according to a news release from Mayor Turner's office.
Building the new multi-service center on the 4400 block of Reed Road would mean it would be about a quarter mile from the facility it will replace, located at 9314 Cullen Boulevard, and the Mayor's news release also underscored that constructing a new site near the existing facility will allow current operations to continue and then be transferred without interruption.
“The new Sunnyside multi-service center will be 60,000 square feet, which is similar to the total square footage of the existing two buildings,” Turner noted at the press conference where he made the announcement, while also underscoring there would be more parking available at the new facility.
The facility would be in District D, which Dwight Boykins represents in the Council.
“Sunnyside's burgeoning population and the ever-evolving needs of my constituents necessitate a dramatic expansion of the services provided to the community,” Boykins noted in a statement and added that the new multi-service center “will play a critical role in advancing that effort.”
The existing facility was built in 1975 and, according to the Mayor's Office, “it is deteriorating and outdated.”
The City is excited to announce proposed land acquisition to build a new #Sunnyside Multi-Service Center, #HealthClinic community park! #HouNews #OSTSouthUnion #77021 #77051 pic.twitter.com/oIDcw9fWer
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) March 20, 2018
Mayor @SylvesterTurner Announces Proposed Sites of a New #Sunnyside Multi-Service Center and Community Park #HouNews https://t.co/q36R7GTDS1
— City of Houston (@HoustonTX) March 20, 2018