On July 19, Norwood Posse members presented a preliminary house restoration proposal to senior PARD staff. We focused just on the house and immediate grounds. Our estimated cost of $600,000 may be a bit low, but does not include donations of time, money, services, and materials. Our proposal is privately funded and work could commence with a combination $300,000 loan/gift from a private investor. If approval is received, additional sources of funding (grants, donations, etc.) would be pursued.The basic idea is to restore/reconstruct the house, maintain and operate it at no cost to PARD. Revenue generated by its use as an event center is projected to yield, after expenses, more than $100,000 annually for park upgrades.

Li Tong of Heimsath Architects created this "fly around" rendering of a reconstructed house: 

On July 20, CasaBella hosted the third community input meeting and presented their six options for redevelopment of the entire park.      http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/norwoodtract.htm    These options show estimated costs and revenue. Two of them include a restored house and the remainder feature new structures where the house now is. Since no public funds are available now to implement any option, these would be sought via a 2012 bond election. The options with new structures could only be considered if historic zoning is removed from the house. In view of the fact that the Historic Landmark Commission, the Planning Commission and the City Council all approved this zoning, it seems that removing it would be a challenge without precedent.

You are invited to submit your comments and questions to restorenorwood@yahoo.com