Animal Campus At Gragg Park At 2125 Bolsover St.

[editor]

Today Mayor White will announce plans for "The Animal Campus at Gragg Park" in the Gulfgate area. Gragg Park is on South Wayside at Brays Bayou.

Fundraising will begin to find $10 million for the project, designed by English Associates Architects and Connolly Architects.

I poked around the intarwebs and found this web site. I think this is the project:

http://www.houstonparksboard.org/projects/images/GPAC_Rendering_000.jpg

Quote

In 2007, Ann Slemons Young left approximately $1.8 million of her estate to BARC for the purpose of building an adoption center. To maximize the impact of this gift, the City began planning for the construction of a new animal welfare campus, with Ms. Young’s bequest as the lead gift. The City has donated the land for the campus, provided $1.2 million in Capital Improvements Project (CIP) funding, and will contribute an additional $3.3 million in CIP funds to renovate the existing BARC facilities

Construction begins in 2011.

[editor]

Press release just came out:

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Mayor White Announces Plans for Animal Campus at Gragg Park

Mayor Bill White today announced plans for a 5.5 acre site which will house a 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art "green" adoption center for dogs and cats from the City's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC), together with a low-cost veterinary clinic and a three acre dog park open to the public. The campus will be constructed on a city-owned site in Gragg Park, along Brays Bayou and Wayside Drive and adjacent to the newly refurbished headquarters for Houston Parks and Recreation Department. The new center, to be named the Ann Young Animal Adoption Center, will enable the City to find homes for many more BARC pets by providing an attractive, well located family-friendly center in one of the City's most beautiful parks.

"Houstonians have clearly asked the City to substantially increase adoption rates for BARC's healthy and treatable pets, and this new Campus will help Houston achieve our common goal. We have made increased animal adoptions a priority in Houston, and now ask everyone in our City to step forward and give generously to make the Animal Campus at Gragg Park a reality," said Mayor White.

Mayor White's announcement kicks off a $10 million fundraising campaign for the Animal Campus, for which $4 million has already been contributed. The lead gift was made by Ann Slemons Young, a friend of BARC's, who left a generous bequest to the City in 2007 to build an animal adoption center. Last week, following resolution of litigation regarding her will, which was handled by Alison Smith of the law firm of Haynes and Boone, who contributed in excess of $100,000 in pro bono legal services, the City received $1.7 million from the Young Estate. To augment her gift, the City has committed an additional $1.2 million in Capital Improvements Plan funding and has donated the land at Gragg Park, valued at $1.3 million, for the campus. The $4.2 million in existing contributions will be supplemented through a capital campaign coordinated through the Houston Parks Board to raise an additional $6 million.

"The Mayor's Animal Protection Task Force proposed ways to drive down euthanasia in the City's animal shelters, including a very important recommendation that the City build an adoption center for BARC. Mayor White has made the realization of the Task Force's recommendation possible. Now, it's Houstonians' turn to give their strong financial support to the project," said Alison Smith, who chaired the Task Force.

The Animal Campus at Gragg Park will be owned by the City of Houston and the adoption center and veterinary clinic will be operated by an independent non-profit organization under contract with the City. The design of the campus will be completed during 2010, with construction to begin in early 2011. This public-private partnership in the financing and operation of the facility will greatly improve animal welfare in Houston, and help the City achieve its goal of becoming the nation's most pet-friendly city.

The architect for the Animal Campus at Gragg Park is English & Associates, which is well known for its "green buildings" and has associated Connolly and Associates, one of the nation's leading architects in the design of animal shelters. The construction manager is SpawMaxwell Company LLC, and the fundraising campaign management is provided by AndrisinAbbey.

[NenaE]

Great news, I passed the dog park at Newcastle & Westpark yesterday, was nice to see so many happy canines.