5 projects that will shape Dallas’ future | The latest on The Loop Dallas, Halperin Park, other transformative plans

DALLAS — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.

Large community projects being built across Dallas aim to tap into the potential of the southern sector, better connect the city, and deliver on decades-old promises.

From a bridge park near the Dallas Zoo to new trails, these projects have attracted gobs of public and private financing while also generating new construction jobs. But their main contributions to the city, according to the leaders behind the efforts, lie in their potential to transform the fabric of Dallas.

But inflation has increased budgets while lack of awareness has sometimes hampered fundraising efforts. Below are updates on five community projects shaping the future of Big D.

Amenities on top of the newly named Halperin Park are beginning to take shape. Construction on the bridge park project began last November, and the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation recently met its phase one fundraising goal of approximately $112 million, following a $23 million gift from the Halperin Foundation.

Other major donors supporting the five-acre project include Texas Capital, Oncor, Methodist, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon. April Allen, president and CEO at Southern Gateway, estimates the park will host 2 million annual visitors and sees opportunities to collaborate with corporate and education organizations to host job fairs, and workforce training events and provide small business resources.

Expenses for both materials and labor have been rising amid the significant number of large, community-focused projects happening across the region, Allen said. When the foundation went to get hard construction costs priced last year, the budget nearly doubled. For a project like Halperin Park, which can be out of sight for many funders, much of Allen’s time is spent spreading awareness about the project.

But with the Halperin Foundation grant, Southern Gateway has secured much of the funding needed for both phases of the project.

“The elephant in the room is the untapped potential of southern Dallas,” Allen said. “We’ve had so many initiatives and efforts to grow southern Dallas. There’s a lot of discussion about the north and south divide. We actually have a tangible and significant investment with this park project that really can begin to drive and catalyze the impact that we have wanted for so long in this part of the city.”

The park will span I-35E between Ewing and Marsalis avenues and is anticipated to open in early 2026.

Philip Hiatt Haigh, executive director of the Circuit Trail Conservancy, has raised more than $90 million and hopes to have 9 of the 11 new miles of trails in this 50-mile project either open or under construction by the end of 2024.

The Loop is connecting 39 miles of existing trails in Dallas with 11 miles of new trails to create a 50-mile loop for walking and biking around the city. The nonprofit has completed the Hi-Line Connector trail in the Design District and is currently constructing the southern portion of the Trinity Forest Spine Trail in southeast Dallas. It also launched a capital campaign earlier this year to secure $15 million for the last 2 miles of trails.

Similar to the Halperin Park project, rising materials and labor costs have also impacted the Loop. Hiatt Haigh said CTC’s initial roughly $33 million agreement with the city approved in 2019 to build the projects would only get the nonprofit $28 million worth of things today.

The nonprofit estimates it will need between $30 million to $45 million for capital hard costs to complete the project the way it’s envisioning. The good news is there is a lot of state and federal funding available for infrastructure projects, Hiatt Haigh said.

For Hiatt Haigh, the numerous community projects happening in the city haven’t increased competition. Instead, it’s brought more funding opportunities to the table. Donors have included private philanthropic groups and foundations. D Magazine reported that Lyda Hill also contributed.

“My vision is that in the future people will not be as concerned about how much vehicle traffic they can get in and out of their properties [and instead think about] other ways people could get to their property, business or residence,” Hiatt Haigh said. “I want people to start thinking about other ways they get around the city in general. How are we thinking about density and roads? … Dallas isn’t trending in the right direction with our traffic safety, so how can we tell a better story?”

Heightened material and labor costs have caused the Klyde Warren Park 2.0 project to hit a bit of a pause.

The project plans to add 1.7 acres to the west side of the popular park, creating a deck between St. Paul and Akard streets toward Field Street. That will make room for a 37,000-square-foot lawn and additional amenities. Construction could begin as early as 2025, with work on the decks anticipated to take about 18 to 24 months and the amenities on top expected to take another 18 to 24 months to complete.

Kit Sawers, president and CEO at Klyde Warren Park, said the nonprofit is still in the planning stages for the second phase and working with its architectural partners and public partners such as the City of Dallas and the Texas Department of Transportation to determine the best path forward.

“The pandemic affected the construction industry in an unprecedented way,” Sawers said. “Skyrocketing costs, including the rate of labor, the price of steel and other building supplies compelled us to pause, waiting for the industry to stabilize and provide a window to move forward when it made the most financial sense.”

The organization is still determining the overall project cost and should know the number within the next several months, Sawers said. In a previous announcement, the organization estimated the second phase could cost about $100 million.

The expansion will be funded by the same public-private partnership used to construct the existing park that opened in 2012. Dallas City Council this summer voted in favor of $40 million in public funds for the project, $10 million of which would come from city bonds. The project also received funding from the Department of Transportation’s Communities and Neighborhoods grant program, the North Central Texas Council of Governments and Dallas County.

Revenue generated from the expansion will support the continued upkeep of the park, expand the amount of signature events and activities and ensure all programs at the site remain free, Sawers said.

For Molly Morgan with Trust for Public Land, the Five Creek Greenbelt project means bringing the same level of services seen in some parts of Dallas to the entire city.

The national nonprofit is delivering on a decades-long city promise and developing a network of parks and trails along Five Mile Creek in Oak Cliff. The project will feature three new parks, a 17-mile trail and connect to two colleges, two light rail stations and three hospitals once it’s complete in 2030.

TPL opened its first new park, the 1.8-acre South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park, in November 2021 and plans to start designing the 83-acre Woody Branch Park this fall. The agency also aims to open the 40-acre Judge Charles Rose Park and start construction on the first segment of trails following updated design work in the spring.

The organization’s construction budget has increased due to the rising costs of building materials, so TPL has had to build a slightly larger contingency plan.

The nonprofit has raised more than $37 million in public funds for the trails portion of Five Mile Creek out of the overall project cost of $72 million. Raising private dollars has been critical in establishing a successful private-public partnership, Morgan said. The organization has seen a one-to-four ratio of private to public fundraising breakout with principal gifts coming from the Boone Family Foundation and Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

To Morgan, the numerous parks and community projects being built in Dallas represent progress on community amenities that she hopes continues.

“Five Mile Creek was never implemented,” said Morgan, director of parks and schoolyards in Texas for TPL. “But now we have a chance to have a trail segment in southern Dallas that looks like White Rock Creek Trail or like Turtle Creek that can provide recreation for people. It can also provide ways for people to more safely get to the bus stop, a light rail stop or a coffee shop like Peabody. It also connects to the universities, Paul Quinn College and UNT Dallas, so there’s a lot of overlapping benefits.”

Fair Park First’s efforts to build an 18-acre community park at this well-known South Dallas location have encountered some unique challenges.

Former Fair Park First CEO Brian Luallen previously said the cornerstone of the project would be delivering on a 40-year-old promise to build a community park in the area. But following his departure in August following months of leadership turmoil and concerns about the park’s finances, the future of the project is unclear.

Part of the $85 million Fair Park Your Park campaign and the Fair Park Master Plan update approved by Dallas City Council in 2020, the park would feature a several play areas, ecological gardens, community stage and pavilion, picnic areas and a dog park and be the first phase of the master plan update focused on identifying ways this neighborhood could serve could serve as a year-round destination, not just when the State Fair of Texas is in town.

Fair Park First previously said it had raised $44 million of a $85 million goal. Dallas Park and Recreation Director John Jenkins also previously said he couldn’t share much about the situation with the agency but felt confident plans to build the park would move forward, NBC DFW reported.