M2L Associates is pleased to announce construction has begun on the firm’s $25 million Emancipation Park renovation project for the OST/Almeda Redevelopment Authority and City of Houston Parks Department. M2L is the local design team leader with Raleigh, North Carolina-based Freelon Group as the lead architect.
As s key element of the overall project, M2L worked to preserve the many large oak trees that are scattered throughout Houston’s oldest park. Emancipation Park, located on 10 acres in Houston’s historic Third Ward, dates back to 1872 when it was purchased by four formerly enslaved men to commemorate emancipation. Donated to the city in 1917, the park’s history includes African American prosperity and hope as well as urban decline following gentrification before numerous public and private stakeholders worked to restore the park.
The project is expected to be completed by fall 2015.