The giant Presidential heads get set to move to Pearland

sniff It won't be the same driving by on Sawyer and not seeing the Giant Presidential Heads once they've been moved to their new home in Pearland.

"This is a natural," [developer Richard] Browne said. "We can make this the Venice of Houston."

The location of Browne's WaterLights District and the presidential park is near other new retail development near Texas 288 and Beltway 8, and close to the booming Shadow Creek Ranch community.

[...]

City officials are excited about the busts going to Pearland because they expect customers and tourists will follow, said Fred Welch, executive director of the Pearland Economic Development Corp.

"It's going to be a great draw for Pearland," he said. "It'll create a destination where we haven't had one before."

It also provides a Houston-area home for the third and final set of Adickes' presidential heads. The first two ended up in presidential parks near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and in Williamsburg, Va.

"I'm really thrilled to put these here because people always tell me, 'You've got to keep these in Texas,' " said Adickes, who is also known for the 67-foot Sam Houston statue in Huntsville along Interstate 45, a 72-foot Stephen F. Austin in Brazoria County and other larger-than-life sculptures, including the cellist next to downtown Houston's Lyric Centre and a trumpet in Galveston.

Yes, I suppose we should be glad they'll remain in the Lone Star State. I'd just have preferred for them to stay in Houston. I like having them in my neighborhood.

The Presidential Park at WaterLights would have one feature the parks in Virginia and South Dakota do not: a bust of the 44th president. Adickes has committed to build at least one more statue, whether it's Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain or another candidate.

Doesn't Ron Paul represent Pearland? Maybe he can make a side deal with Adickes for his own bust, since he sure as heck isn't going to be Number 44.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on April 05, 2007 to Elsewhere in Houston