Dallas, Texas – In a major move towards improving community infrastructure, Dallas has started building a new park in the northeastern area with official building starting earlier this week. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 18 at the Forest Audelia Village shopping mall, located at the intersection of Forest Lane and Audelia Road. The new development is expected to become a major recreation center.
Covering one acre, the upcoming park is supposed to provide a range of facilities meant to appeal to both families and individuals. City officials say the design calls for pavilions, playgrounds, and multi-use sports courts. Aimed strategically on the southern end of the commercial complex, the park faces the busy Forest Lane and seeks to offer a new, vivid area for leisure and physical activities.
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This park sets the start of the first phase of a larger multimillion-dollar project to restore the Forest Audelia Village area. With plans for more community facilities including a library and a fitness center, which show a long-term dedication to rejuvenating the area, future plans for the property are ambitious.
Under Dallas Park and Recreation, Project Safe Neighborhood, and the Better Block Foundation in the Forest-Audelia area, the development follows a successful temporary “pop-up” park initiative. This initiative set the groundwork for permanent recreational spaces in the area.
Emphasizing the need of more public areas that improve safety and support family-oriented surroundings, Mayor Eric Johnson has been a prominent promoter of growing Dallas’s park system.
“We must bring more parks and public spaces to our neighborhoods, and I look forward to working closely with our Park Board President Arun Agarwal and our private partners to achieve that goal. Together, we can build a safer and more family-friendly Dallas,” Mayor Eric Johnson said in a press release announcing the pop-up park opening in 2021.
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The shopping center parking lot will become a vibrant and safe space for community engagement when the project is expected to be finished in late 2025 or early 2026. Dallas Park and Recreation’s director, John Jenkins, emphasized the expected good influence the new park will bring.
“They’re going to appreciate that the city has stepped in and going to create a positive experience in this entire complex for them. … We’re going to see kids playing, families playing,” said Dallas Park and Recreation director John Jenkins, as NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported. “We won’t see the negative element that was out here before.”
Reflecting this attitude, District 10 council member Kathy Stewart expressed her support for the project since she saw its possibility to significantly raise the standard of living in her area.
“This says we do care about what happens at Forest and Audelia,” Stewart said. “We’re not going to be just about enforcement, we’re also going to be about improving the quality of life.”
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The construction of this park not only emphasizes Dallas’s dedication to improve urban living through infrastructure projects but also reflects a larger trend of cities realizing the need of easily available public areas encouraging social interactions and communal well-being.
