Phase One closures at MacGregor Park started Monday, August 17, 2026. They shut the Homer Ford Tennis Center, the disc golf course, the baseball field, and the large playground across from the fitness center. On October 1, Mayor John Whitmire, Houston Parks Board, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, and Kinder Foundation held the official groundbreaking on a $75 million renovation of the 65-acre park.
The park on Brays Bayou next to Riverside Terrace is being rebuilt in two halves, one after the other. The section that closed in August is scheduled to reopen about when the other section closes. The useful question for the next two years is which half your routine depends on.
The Schedule
Here is the published timeline:
- August 17, 2026. Phase One closures begin in the southern section.
- October 1, 2026. Official groundbreaking.
- 12 to 16 months after work began. Phase One finishes. That puts the reopening somewhere between late summer and the end of 2027.
- Fall 2027. The pool, the fitness center, and the northern section close for Phase Two.
- End of 2028. The full project is expected to be complete.
Phase One might reopen before the northern section closes, giving a short window with both halves open. Or the two phases could overlap for a few weeks with both sections partly closed. The published dates don't settle which. Either way, the plan keeps part of the park open the whole time, as the Houston Parks Board said in its groundbreaking release.
What Phase One Closed
The Houston Parks Board's MacGregor page lists six closures that started August 17:
- Tennis Center
- Disc golf
- Baseball field
- Large playground across from the fitness center
- Sections of MacGregor Park Trail
- Sections of parking
According to the Houston Chronicle's October 1 report, Houston Parks Board CEO Justin Schultz said the southern section had already closed. He described the phase as work on the tennis complex, playground, and baseball field, plus public infrastructure upgrades.
The North Half Stays Open for Now
The fitness center and the basketball pavilion are not on the Phase One closure list. Houston Parks Board puts the pavilion upgrades in Phase Two. That makes the northern half the working park through roughly fall 2027.
The city lists two different sets of hours for the fitness center, so call ahead before a weekend visit:
| City listing | Weekdays | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|
| HPARD fitness centers page | 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., then 2 to 7 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Closed |
| HPARD Southeast community centers directory, Fall/Spring | 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
The center is at 5225 Calhoun Road. Its phone is 713-747-8650, and it serves adults 18 and older.
The pool is a different case. The city's 2026 pool season is over, and all city pools are closed. This summer, MacGregor's Aqua Zumba ran on Wednesdays and Fridays from 6:05 to 7 p.m., June 16 through August 7. The pool isn't part of Phase One. Its renovation and a new pool house with a community room are scheduled for Phase Two.
The Trail and the Bayou Edge
The posted closures cover "sections of MacGregor Park Trail." Neither the Parks Board nor the city has published a route-level detour for the Brays Bayou Greenway where it meets the park. Be ready to turn back partway around the loop if a section is closed.
The Greenway segment from Old Spanish Trail to Martin Luther King Boulevard opened March 9, 2017. The bridge near MLK Boulevard that links the University of Houston to MacGregor Park opened February 24, 2020. That bridge was built with a BCycle station at the park. Bike-share is no longer an option there, because the city announced that Houston BCycle would end operations on June 30, 2024.
Where the City Points Tennis Players and Families
The Parks Board publishes two lists of substitutes for the closed facilities.
Nearby parks: Fonde Park, Smither Park, Gragg Park Complex, George T. Nelson Park, also listed as Yellowstone Park, and Emancipation Park.
Tennis courts: Memorial Park Tennis Center, Zollie Scales Park, Mason Park, and Sunnyside Park.
These are court and park suggestions, not a relocation plan. No source we found says where Homer Ford's lessons, leagues, or staff moved during construction. If you belong to a program based there, ask that program directly.
What Comes Back First, and What It Cost
When Phase One finishes, the Parks Board expects to reopen:
- A new tennis complex with a clubhouse, 16 tennis courts, 2 practice courts, and 8 pickleball courts
- A heavily shaded, all-inclusive playground
- More than 3,000 new trees
- More than three miles of new walking trails and sidewalks
- An enhanced space honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., plus the Tree of Life Plaza
- Better connections to the 55-mile Brays Bayou Greenway
The groundbreaking release adds a central promenade to the trail plan and says the Parks Board is commissioning public art about the park's history. Because the MLK plaza is in the Phase One scope, the area around the Martin Luther King Jr. statue by sculptor Ken Washington may be affected while work is underway.
The projects follow the park's history. Homer Ford Tennis Center is where Olympic and professional athletes have trained. The basketball pavilion was a favorite of Phi Slama Jama, the University of Houston teams that rose to fame from 1982 to 1984. The park also has a bronze bas-relief of Peggy MacGregor, wife of Henry Frederick MacGregor, by John Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the Mount Rushmore faces, according to Houston Southeast. Hood Design Studio and Walter Hood created the conceptual design. Houston-based Talley Landscape Architecture is the landscape architect of record.
The budget has grown. The Chronicle reports that the cost rose from $57.5 million when plans were unveiled in March 2025 to $75 million at the October 2026 groundbreaking. Funding includes a $27 million gift from Kinder Foundation, $6.5 million from the city, $4 million from the OST/Almeda Corridors Redevelopment Authority, and a $10 million federal grant. Some earlier write-ups still give a lower total. The Parks Board and Chronicle figures are the current ones.
The Chronicle also reported that Schultz said the redesign process began in 2020, after residents asked for better facilities but wanted to keep the park's character. At the groundbreaking, Third Ward civic leader Algenita Scott Davis described the park's role, as quoted by the Houston Chronicle:
"Our churches, our organizations, our schools, our groups, our families, our fundraisers, whatever group that you can name, they had something at MacGregor Park."
Planning Around the Handoff
How the two-year schedule affects you depends on what you use the park for:
- Tennis and pickleball: Use the courts the Parks Board lists until Phase One ends sometime in late 2027. The new complex should reopen before the northern section closes, or close to it.
- Fitness center and basketball: This half stays open now. Plan on fall 2027 as the expected closing date.
- Swimming: The 2026 season is over. The pool is scheduled to close for Phase Two in fall 2027.
- Playground: The large playground is closed now. Emancipation Park and the other parks on the Parks Board list are the published alternatives until the new shaded playground opens with Phase One.
- Walking the loop: Parts of the trail are closed with no published detour. Phase One adds more than three miles of trails and sidewalks when it finishes.
A park rebuild on a two-year schedule matters for Riverside Terrace owners planning a sale or purchase, since it changes what a buyer sees at the park over the next two years. If the MacGregor timeline affects when you list, how you present your home, or how you set terms on a purchase, schedule a Confidential Strategy Consultation with Rhonda Hicks and the RE/MAX Premier Luxury Collection team.
