Project Profile: Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, Texas

“Klyde Warren Park is a beautiful place that helps stitch together our city center and serves as a wonderful attraction for Dallas residents and visitors from around the world,” said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson. “Additionally, the Park has been an incredible catalyst for economic development in our great city. The value of the property around the Park has doubled in the past five years, providing significant tax revenue that pays for vital services for our residents.”

Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, was designed to create a sense of discovery for visitors. Covering five acres and including 37 native species and 322 trees, the Park can accommodate approximately 10,000 people and serves as a physical, social, and cultural hub that creates a bridge over the recessed Woodall Rodgers Freeway between Pearl and St. Paul Streets.

The bridge is the world’s largest suspended infrastructure to contain a park. It includes 300 concrete box beams and 6,900 cubic yards of concrete to form columns that support the beams. There are also over 4,700 linear feet of beam and trench panels supporting the structure.

The first phase of the Park was completed in 2012 and is located above Woodall Rogers Freeway, bounded by St. Paul on the south, Pearl to the north, and the Woodall Rogers Frontage Roads to the east and west. Since opening in 2012, it is one of the most frequented destinations in the city. It is estimated that Klyde Warren Park has had a $2.5B economic impact on Dallas.

Phase II of Klyde Warren Park, scheduled for completion in 2024, will provide additional open space, event space, retail, and parking on two separate deck structures over the freeway. The 1.5-acre expansion includes a three-story, enclosed special events pavilion that will contain a café, rooftop deck, and special events ballroom to provide ongoing financial support for the park. The pavilion will offer space for a single ground-floor tenant and will serve as a gateway into the city. Additional plans for the pavilion include a 36,000-square foot multi-use green space for markets, festivals, and recreation.
The project will further enhance the land value around the Park and those taxes ultimately benefit the City and institutions such as our schools and hospitals.

The park will be self-sustaining. Ongoing revenue will come from food and beverage sales, restaurant rent, sponsored events, in-kind contributions, advertising, venue rentals, corporate and individual gifts, and an operating and capital reserve.

• Phase I. $110 million, currently under construction
  • City of Dallas: $20M (bond funds)
  • Texas DOT: $20M (highway funds)
  • USDOT: $16.7M (stimulus funds)
  • Private donations: $50M
• Phase 2.0 estimated cost: $60M

• Bond funds from the City of Dallas
• Highways funding from the State of Texas
• Stimulus funding
• Individual donors directly to the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation
• Real Estate Council

• Landscape Architect: The Office of James Burnett
• Restaurant and Pavilion Architect: Thomas Phifer and Partners
• Project Management: Bjerke Management Solutions
• Engineering and Design Consultant: Jacobs Engineering Group
• Programming: Dan Biederman and BRV
• General Contractors: Archer Western and McCarthy and Associates
• Amenity Structural Engineer: Enres Studios
• LEED Consultants: Ware Architecture
• Fountains: Fluidity Design Consultants
• Lighting: Focus Lighting

The initial feasibility study for the Park was conducted in 2004. In June 2006, the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation unveiled the Park’s original design and three years later announced that Archer Western won the project’s construction contract. Four months after the announcement, construction of the Park began in October 2009 and 36 months later the Park opened in October 2012.

In October 2019, the Park unveiled final renderings of the 1.5-acre expansion project with construction scheduled to start in winter 2021 and a completion date of mid-2024.

The $110M project was funded through a public-private partnership. Public support included $20M in bond funds from the City of Dallas, $20M in highway funds from the state and $16.7M in stimulus funds. The balance of funding is through individual donors directly to the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation.

Project is under construction

• Create an urban green space over the recessed Woodall Rodgers Freeway between Pearl and St. Paul Streets in downtown Dallas
• Public-Private Partnerships funding.
• Has had a $2.5B economic impact on Dallas. The project will further enhance the land value around the Park and those taxes ultimately benefit the City and institutions such as schools and hospitals.
• The Park incorporates the use of native tree and plant species. The Park’s trees sequester an estimated 7 tons of carbon per year at maturity. The trees act as a natural bio-filter and reduce storm water run-off and mitigate urban heat.
• The trenches from the bottom of the concrete beams and concrete slabs act as planter boxes that allow the trees to grow to the desired size.
• A combination of Geofoam and specially designed soil helps keep the deck from being too heavy.
• The Park has solar panels on the light poles and a high-efficiency lighting management system, helping in energy conservation.
• The cover over the freeway reduces traffic noise for the surface level pedestrian traffic, as well as the adjacent buildings.

Phase 2.0

• Revenue from the rental use of the pavilion will help fund the upkeep of Klyde Warren Park, and ensure the more than 1,300 programs and events offered each year at the Park remain free to the public

• Klyde Warren Park
• Klyde Warren Park - Phase 2.0
• Klyde Warren Park - Park Overview
• D Magazine
• The City of Dallas
• Congress for the New Urbanism
• Conserve North Texas