To commemorate the completed restoration of one of Houston’s last original, century-old brick streets, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston City Council Member Karla Cisneros will join Old Sixth Ward Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 13 board members and neighborhood residents for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the city’s oldest intact neighborhood. A project of the Old Sixth Ward TIRZ 13, the brick-paver renovation and underground infrastructure reinstallation is the organization’s largest and most high-profile initiative in its 20-year history.
When
10 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019
Where
In the 700 block of Sabine Street, between Lubbock and Kane streets. Visitors can parallel park for free along Lubbock Street and walk north up Sabine Street.
Visuals
Following brief remarks, dignitaries and neighborhood leadership will cut the ribbon, with restored historic housing as their backdrop and the century-old brick street as their foreground.
Background
Originally installed circa 1876, Sabine Street was brick-paved in the early 1900s. The three remaining blocks of brick street, intersecting and running south of Washington Avenue, had fallen into rutty disrepair but remained a beloved asset of the neighborhood.
The $1.6 million project included critical infrastructure improvements. Underground, the ancient sewage and storm drainage systems were in a state of partial collapse—creating malfunctioning plumbing within residents’ homes, occasional sink holes and strong odors following rain events. All sewage and storm pipes were replaced, and new storm water inlets were added, in connection with the work. The Old Sixth Ward TIRZ 13 also refurbished original stone curbs and new-brick paved sidewalks flanking the street and dovetailing with an earlier zone project that installed 4.4 miles of new-brick accessible sidewalks throughout the rest of the neighborhood.
The Old Sixth Ward TIRZ 13 contains the boundaries of Houston’s historic Old Sixth Ward, an area immediately northwest of downtown Houston.
12/28/18