In Frisco, a more than 20-year effort to build a park will come to fruition on Monday when officials break ground on the first phase of Grand Park. When complete, the green space will span 1,011 acres from the Dallas North Tollway west to Lake Lewisville and FM 423. It is set to be larger than New York City’s 843-acre Central Park.
The first phase of the Grand Park project includes the 68-acre Civic Park, which is bounded by Cotton Gin Road to the north, the Dallas North Tollway to the east and Legacy Drive to the west. It will boast an amphitheater, splash pads and Arrowhead Pond, a water body which is nearly eleven times the size of an Olympic swimming pool where visitors can kayak. This first phase of construction is funded by $43 million in bonds and is expected to be completed in the spring of next year.
The park will eventually include just over 20 miles of trails, pickleball courts, a sand volleyball court and a skate park, according to the city’s master plan for the park.
Frisco officials purchased the property in 2005. But development was delayed for years by the slow cleanup of the Exide Technologies battery recycling plant formerly located there. Thousands of chips from the battery casings were found at the site, some contaminated with lead and other hazardous chemicals, even after the plant shuttered in 2012. Since then, the city worked to make sure the area was free of contaminants. Last year, the city secured $24 million in state funding to finish cleanup efforts.
The city will host a celebration to mark the groundbreaking for the first phase of Grand Park at 1 p.m. on Monday, April 27 at the Big Bluestem Trailhead. Attendees can park at the far west parking lot of the Frisco Public Library and take shuttles to the groundbreaking.
At a city event earlier this month, Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney praised the foresight of former city officials.
“We’re able to do this project because mayor and council 20 years ago had the vision,” Cheney said. “Things like that … change the direction of cities forever.”