The 100-acre park in the Sunnyside neighborhood sits on a Harris County Flood Control District detention basin with nearly 325 million gallons of storage capacity | Facebook/Houston Parks Board/Natasha Gorel
Houston’s Hill at Sims opened in May 2026 on a site that was designed to hold stormwater. The 100-acre park in the Sunnyside neighborhood sits on a Harris County Flood Control District detention basin with nearly 325 million gallons of storage capacity. The $30 million project adds trails, a hilltop pavilion, a pedestrian bridge and other public amenities without negating the site’s original flood-control function. The park is at 11808 Scott Street along Sims Bayou and connects with the wider Sims Bayou Greenway trail network. The 100-acre park in the Sunnyside neighborhood sits on a Harris County Flood Control District detention basin with nearly 325 million gallons of storage capacity | Facebook/Houston Parks Board/Natasha Gorel A flood basin became a public park Houston Parks Board began working with Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and the Flood Control District on transforming the 100-acre detention basin into a regional park in 2021. The completed park has nearly 4.5 miles of new hike-and-bike trails, which include a 1.6-mile loop and nature trails. A 60-foot hill that provides views toward downtown Houston is the park’s defining physical feature. The site also contains six large-scale murals created through a partnership with Street Art for Mankind, and more than 670 native trees were supplied through partnerships involving Texas Parks and Wildlife and Trees For Houston. Axios reported that the basin can hold nearly 325 million gallons of stormwater and that the park serves more than 50,000 residents in Sunnyside and south Houston. The project was funded through a combination of public and private money, with about $22 million coming from public funding, while the Houston Parks Board secured nearly $8 million in private investment from The Brown Foundation. Sims Bayou in Houston, part of the broader greenway system connected to the Hill at Sims project | Wikimedia Commons The park opened after years of planning Houston Parks Board says more than 20 community meetings were held and more than 700 residents contributed feedback during the planning process. Hill at Sims also forms part of a larger greenway system, and the new pedestrian bridge connects the park to Sims Bayou Greenway, which Houston Parks Board says will eventually extend nearly 20 miles between Blue Ridge County Park and Milby Park.
The park’s opening in May 2026 therefore did not mark the end of the flood basin’s original job, and the same 100 acres now perform two functions of storing stormwater during severe weather and providing trails, open space and recreation for the surrounding Sunnyside community. The Houston Parks Board managed the project with Harris County Precinct One and the Flood Control District, and describes Hill at Sims as a dual-purpose park. The detention basin remains part of the region’s stormwater infrastructure, while the surrounding space is now open for recreation. A new pedestrian and bicycle bridge crosses Sims Bayou and links the park to the greenway on the opposite side, and the site also includes a water-access pier, picnic areas, a nature pavilion with restrooms and a hilltop pavilion. Water can collect in the detention basin rather than immediately moving downstream through the drainage system during heavy rainfall, and the new trails and recreation areas were designed around that infrastructure rather than replacing it. The design also incorporates trails, gathering areas and public amenities around the basin without removing its flood-management capacity, which allowed recreation and stormwater infrastructure to occupy the same site. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
The property functioned primarily as a detention basin rather than a conventional public park before the conversion, and the completed project added places to walk, cycle, fish and gather while the basin was available for its original purpose.
