The residents of Frisco will have two new local parks to visit in 2024.
The city’s parks and recreation department has made great strides in two local park projects: the Grand Park and the Kaleidoscope Park, per Community Impact.
Grand Park
Grand Park is a 275-acre recreational area bordered by the North Dallas Tollway, Cotton Gin Road, Legacy Parkway, and Stonebrook Parkway.
A 2.2-mile hiking trail boasting hackberry and ash trees already opened there late last year.
Known as Big Bluestem Trail, it starts at Cotton Gin Road and offers hikers a 12-foot-wide path through untouched nature.
A digital map with further information about the park can be accessed by visitors by scanning one of the many QR codes on poster boards that line the walkway.
But there is still much more in store for Grand Park.
On April 4, Frisco City Council approved a four-month contract worth $394,000 with the global design company Ideo to develop a vision for Grand Park.
This vision will see the park expanded to approximately 1,000 acres, per Star Local Media (SLM). This will include finding a way to incorporate the floodplain and 7.8 miles of creek into the design.
Ideo will first conduct research by speaking to stakeholders and establishing what matters most to them for the park. After coming up with a concept and refining it according to feedback from the city, the firm will start developing designs and then advise how to implement them.
“We will have a set of guiding principles for this project that pays attention to the values, the needs, the desires of the residents and really frames it in such a way that it’s not so restrictive or constricting that you can’t do something else,” said Shannon Coates, director of Frisco Parks and Recreation, per SLM.
As for Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney, he eagerly anticipates the opening of Grand Park, which is a long time coming.
“I wanted to actually work on this park project so that my kids could enjoy it,” Cheney said, per Community Impact. “Now, I joke we’re working on it so my grandkids can enjoy it.”
Frisco residents voted in favor of acquiring the park back in 2006 for $22.5 million, per SLM. But it took much longer for the land, which used to house a battery recycling plant owned by Exide Technologies, to be cleaned up.
Kaleidoscope Park
Not to be outdone, another Frisco park is about to break ground in Hall Park alongside State Highway 121 and the Dallas North Tollway.
Kaleidoscope Park is a public-private partnership between the city and the Hall Group, which has set aside $7 billion to revitalize Hall Park, a mixed-use development complex, over the next two decades.
The 5.7-acre park will begin to take shape after construction begins in May.
“We’re moving into the phase of construction where things will start to look a little bit more park-like,” said Scott Stewart, KPF executive director, per Community Impact.
As The Dallas Express reported earlier this year, Hall Park now has three brand-new multi-million dollar towers on Gaylord Parkway. One is a 16-story office tower, another is a 224-room boutique hotel, and the last is a 19-story luxury multifamily tower.
Kaleidoscope Park will add even more artsy flair and outdoor amenities to the campus. Its design includes public art displays, technology terraces, a children’s play area, a dog park, and gardens, per Community Impact.
“These types of developments will continue to be the future of Frisco,” Cheney said of Kaleidoscope Park, per Community Impact. “This is going to become the new normal for park development in Frisco.”