Proposed downtown Lexington park hits key fundraising milestone; hires contractor
The Town Branch Park has raised $25.4 million or roughly 80 percent of the $31 million needed to build the proposed 10-acre park between Oliver Lewis Way bridge and Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington, park officials announced Monday.
In 2017, fundraising began in earnest for the park to complement the city’s trail systems and provide much-needed green space downtown. Fundraisers had hoped to reach $22 million in three years. In 2020, it surpassed that goal.
“We cannot be more excited about the community embracing the positive impact Town Branch Park will have on Lexington,” said Ann Bakhaus, chair of the Town Branch Park Board of Advisors. “Even in the midst of a pandemic, we have exceeded $25 million, which demonstrates the strong support for building the world-class park we promised from day one.”
The group will move forward with final designs and engineering for the park now that it has exceeded the $22 million goal.
Boston-based Sasaki will be the lead designer, supported by a team of local firms — EHI, Strand, and CARMAN—as well as Atlanta-based Rabun. Dean Builds will serve as the local construction manager.
Sasaki has designed other downtown public spaces such as Cincinnati’s Smale Riverfront Park, the Chicago Riverwalk and Boston City Hall Plaza. There will be several town halls about the final designs for the park later this winter and in the spring, park officials said.
The dates for those town halls will be announced in the coming weeks.
Design work will begin immediately. Sasaki will build off the park’s master plan and initial concept designs by SCAPE.
Construction on the park cannot start until the nearly $300 million expansion of Central Bank Center is completed — likely in January 2022.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 11:51 AM.
