Proposed bond project could bring $6.4 million park to San Antonio

A proposed 2022-2027 bond project could bring a new $6.4 million park to the San Antonio Medical Center area. The 16-acre park would be along Huebner Creek near Babcock Road and Floyd Curl Green Street. 

Elaine Kearney, a landscape architect with TPG Partners, spoke about the city-recommended project during the 2022-2027 parks and recreation bond committee meeting on Tuesday, November 16. She tells MySA she represented the presentation on behalf of her the San Antonio Medical Foundation and the Medical Center Alliance. 

The three organizations have been working with the City of San Antonio over the years to develop a master plan for the Medical Center area. The team is the same one who helped make the 1.8-mile Floyd Curl Drive Green Street possible, which opened two years ago to add bicycle paths, pedestrian facilities linked to off-site trails, and landscaping. 

The 16-acre park would be along Huebner Creek near Babcock Road and Floyd Curl Green Street. 

Billy Calzada, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

However, despite having the green street, Kearney says the Medical Center is the No. 1 area in San Antonio in a deficit of a 10-mintue walk to a park, according to Trust for Public Land – a nonprofit that uses a mapping tool to see where parks are to where they live. 

According to Kearney, the park would not only connect to the green street, but it would also form a connection between the green street to the Howard Peak Greenway Trail System. It would have picnic tables, a dog park, walking trails, benches, and a trailhead. The San Antonio Medical Foundation will also donate one acre of land for a trailhead and parking lot area. It is worth $850,000, Kearney says. 

“The opportunity to truly bring a new park and a new green space, I think, not only would be an amazing amenity for the people who live in the medical center, but also in the times that we’ve been in right now with COVID being so stressful – this could help all the first responders and the people who work in health care to go out and take a walk between shifts to help their mental health,” Kearney says.

The proposed plan has been recommended by the City Council to be a project to use with the more than $1.2 billion bond for 2022-2027. City staff members have recommended spending $274.3 million for parks, recreation, and open spaces (including $110 million for the greenway trails). 

“We have partnered with CoSA (City of San Antonio) for 20 years to make approximately $100 million in infrastructure improvements in the SAMC (San Antonio Medical Center), including Floyd Curl Greenstreet,” Bill Balthrope with the South Texas Medical Alliance says. “Tying these improvements into the park and trail system would provide a healthy and safe environment for residents and employees.”

The City of San Antonio worked with the San Antonio Medical Foundation and Medical Center Alliance to create the Floyd Curl Green Street, a 1.8-mile trail along Floyd Curl. 

The City of San Antonio worked with the San Antonio Medical Foundation and Medical Center Alliance to create the Floyd Curl Green Street, a 1.8-mile trail along Floyd Curl. 

Courtesy, Medical Center Alliance

While the park is estimated to be around $6.4 million, Kearney says the organizations are only asking for $3.5 million as both San Antonio Medical Foundation and the Medical Center Alliance plan to contribute $1 million each to help get the park planning going.

“A major theme of the Medical Center is health and fitness, though currently lacking in facilities to accomplish this,” Jim Reed with the San Antonio Medical Foundation says. “SA Tomorrow (a city-based agency planning effort to guide the city toward growth) recognized this and made connectivity and green spaces major priorities going forward.”

If approved for funding through the bond Kearney says they anticipate beginning the design process in the summer of 2022. She says the park’s grand opening could be at the earliest by 2024 or 2025. 

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