A rendering of the future Southern Gateway Park. Image courtesy of Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation.
The Oak Cliff Gateway Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District Board of Directors approved two funding requests today to help support Halperin Park. The requests will head to City Council later this month for a final vote on Jan. 28.
The park is expected to bring 2 million annual visitors annually and generate more than $1 billion in economic impact during the first five years, according to a UNT Dallas study.
“Halperin Park is not just a city park, it’s a city asset,” said district manager of the City of Dallas Office of Economic Development Angela Hardiman.
The first request for up to $8 million in financial support would come from two sources: about $7 million from the TIF district tax revenue that will come from future development in the surrounding area and about $1 million from the 2012 General Obligation Bond Program’s economic development grant funding.
With Phase 1 nearing the expected opening in spring 2026, a remaining $24 million funding gap exists for that completion and opening operations, Hardiman said.
Some elements that would be supported by this TIF funding and bond funding would include an ADA accessible Oak Cliff trail ranch, improvements to access and safety, a 12th Street promenade that reconnects the street grid at I-35 and utilities needed for park functionality
The bridge financing has allowed construction to continue, but there is a loan payment due at completion that creates a financial risk.
April Allen, CEO and president of Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation said the costs for the park were certainly much larger than anticipated.
“Five years ago, we were looking at a construction … obviously as we got closer to construction two years ago it was significantly different,” she said. “And I think that’s how inflation (impacts), really anyone in the construction industry can speak to, since COVID.”
The second approved funding requested by the City’s Department of Transportation and Public Works is $750,000 for the construction of pedestrian sidewalk improvements to be located on the northwest side of Halperin Park along the southbound I-35E access road near the intersection of South Lancaster Road and 12th Street.
The design for the sidewalk is already funded by a federal grant to bring high visibility and traffic calming for pedestrian safety, but construction funding was not included in the grant, Hardiman said.
The design currently includes a Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon, a model that remains dark until activated by the pedestrian that triggers stop and yield lights for drivers. Other design aspects will be added per TxDOT requirements as the sidewalk will cross the agency’s facility on the southbound I-35 Frontage Road.
“We’re thrilled to be bringing this project to our city,” Allen said. “Both for what it could mean for our community, which we all live in and care a lot about, but also, the economic development that we’re already seeing take place as a result from projects that are being invested in and around the area.”
