DALLAS, Texas – Following the triumph of Clyde Warren Park in Dallas, the Paso Del Norte Community Foundation believes El Paso could emulate the same success.
Clyde Warren spans five acres on the Woodall Rodgers Freeway, connecting downtown Dallas to the arts and historical districts.
According to the Dallas Fort Worth Real Estate Review, the idea for the park was born in 1968, but nothing was done until downtown real estate developers wanted to connect the boroughs that the freeway had divided.
Within 4 years the group became the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation and raised around $ 3.5 million to start the project.
The city and state added $ 20 million each to the project, and by then the foundation had raised an additional $ 55 million in private donations.
In 2002 the ball got rolling and in 2012 the park was officially opened. It was named Clyde Warren after billionaire Kelcy Warren donated $ 10 million to the foundation.
OBJ Landscape Architecture program developer Tara Green worked on the Clyde Warren Project and is also helping with the concepts for El Paso.
“It’s a city-owned park in which public bonds have been invested. It had federal funds, and when it was built there was stimulus money. That was paired with an almost equal amount of private dollars so that the money was raised for the construction of the park. The park is owned by the City of Dallas but is privately operated by a 501-c3 (nonprofit), ”said Green.
The Paso Del Norte Foundation believes El Paso can benefit from the same style of park that was built in Dallas.
They formed the Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation to work with city and state officials to build a 12.5-acre deck space over Interstate 10 in El Paso.
Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation project leader Lauren Steinmann believes El Paso can benefit financially from the park in the long term.
The city of Dallas receives $ 15 million annually from the foundation in payment for all of the work done and operated by the foundation, ”Steinmann said.
The Deck Plaza concept should begin with the next phase of Teas Dept.’s “Re-imagine I-10” corridor project. of Transportation coincide.
TxDOT is interested in adding additional freeway lanes through the downtown corridor, but to do so it may require some land to be captured from imminent domains and displaced residents.
However, this doesn’t go well with some city guides like Precinct 2 El Paso District Commissioner David Stout.
“The Pearl Apartments, almost everything you see along the north side of the freeway, are being removed to widen the freeway. People are being evicted and guess what kind of people? Not the people who own the bank building south of town, but the people who are likely to be low-income people who live on the north side of the freeway, “Stout told ABC-7.
TxDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Wright said the transportation authority had been working with various designs to add the lanes to reduce the land required to start the project.
Wright said, “What caused some concern was that even in this segment, excluding railroad properties, the corridor study looked at the relocation of 92 commercial properties along this corridor between nine and eight commercial properties.”
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El Paso seeks to emulate Dallas with construction of I-10 deck plaza
