Dallas Breaks Ground on Yet Another Downtown Park

Pacific Plaza will the fourth park built in the center of the city in the last decade, and there are still plans for three more.

1 minute read

April 18, 2018, 8:00 AM PDT

By Katharine Jose


Dallas skyline

dherrera_96 / Flickr

Construction of Pacific Plaza, a 3.4 acre park on what is currently a parking lot begins this month, reports the Dallas Morning News.

It's the fourth new downtown-area park built since 2009, and the first of four new parks to be built in the next five years.

Dallas has assumed a "transitional mood" in the last several years, and has become a somewhat unexpected leader of progressive urban investment. In addition to a massive spending on parks, the city has prioritized walkability and connectivity, opened a streetcar line with plans to expand and add a subway, launched a popular (if flawed) bikeshare program, is considering a formerly controversial plan to bury a highway, and killed a decades-old plan for a major new toll road.

Half the funding for the new parks comes from a private organization called Parks for Downtown Dallas, which will be selling naming rights to Pacific Plaza and Hardwood Park, as well as naming rights to a number of features inside the parks.

The Morning News article provides summaries and renderings on all four designs.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018 in Dallas Morning News

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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