Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Checked it out today and thought it looks fantastic. Not sure why, but I expected it to feel larger even though I've walked through that parking lot a million times. Extremely well designed with some very subtle elevation changes. The section with the swings will be very popular.

I checked out this square this past Saturday and loved it! I'd say "Square" is definitely the right term for this, as it doesn't feel like a park at all, but that's certainly fine.

I saw a group of police officers on bikes hanging out at the park, the ping-pong/fusball tables were all occupied, a couple was having professional pictures taken, and multiple groups were scattered throughout the park just hanging out and sitting. It seemed like a number of people were trying to go to Ellen's and were simply waiting around at the park until their table was ready.

Overall, I was very impressed at how active it felt given that it only opened not too long ago. Like lakewoodhobo said, it's not exactly a big park, it's mostly just a pretty place to sit and hang out, but it's a huge improvement over the surface lot, and really ties the entire area together much better.

The real test is a two years from now when the brand new wears off. Main Street Gardens was super busy when it opened and it had some real active buildings near it plus some empty stuff like the Staler at the time. Then over time as wear and tear set in and design changes were needed for things like the playground, dog park and the grass not sticking around. Now its better with the design changes they made but the shinny has worn off so time will tell how much it will need to keep it in good condition. Now we have Griffin park nearby and Harwood Park coming as well to take some pressure off Main Street Gardens. For the West End I am sure it will be popular for a good time as long as Parks for Downtown Dallas is able to handle maintaining all these parks they have built since Main Street Gardens. Civic Gardens (formerly Belo Gardens) is another interesting test bed since its fairly simple without much to do and is so close to things like the federal courts and the greyhound bus station.

At some point over the summer they took down the swinging benches/chairs. I wonder if it was because of mechanical issues or because of worries about liability.

northsouth wrote:At some point over the summer they took down the swinging benches/chairs. I wonder if it was because of mechanical issues or because of worries about liability.

I noticed that too this weekend. I hope its not permanent removal. Or if it is, I hope they have Plan B. This is a great asset as more and more residential comes to the area.

Anyone know what the deal is with the swings? If I recall, less than a week after opening, some idiots had already broken multiple swings, causing them to take the rest down. I thought I remembered someone saying they were going to rebuild them out of a different material and use stronger methods to secure them so this wouldn't be an issue in the future, but I could be imagining that. We're getting close to a year since the swings were taken down, though, so if anyone has any insight into this, would love to hear it.

The swings were the first thing I expected to be removed permanently once I saw the renderings. Just seemed like something that one small group of users would ruin for everyone.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:The swings were the first thing I expected to be removed permanently once I saw the renderings. Just seemed like something that one small group of users would ruin for everyone.

These parks need a robocop.

Been walking through here on lunch breaks again recently now that the weather has finally cooled down, and it looks like some of the trees didn't make it through the summer drought.

northsouth wrote:Been walking through here on lunch breaks again recently now that the weather has finally cooled down, and it looks like some of the trees didn't make it through the summer drought.

Super unfortunate.

How’s the activity level here?

That's a shame. Anyone know what kind of trees they were?

potatocoins wrote:

northsouth wrote:Been walking through here on lunch breaks again recently now that the weather has finally cooled down, and it looks like some of the trees didn't make it through the summer drought.

Super unfortunate.

How’s the activity level here?

Sometimes there a few people and others a bit more, but that might just be a matter of weather and time of day (I take my lunch break a bit late).

IcedCowboyCoffee wrote:That's a shame. Anyone know what kind of trees they were?

One or two I think were sycamores (one's been removed and I'm not 100% sure it matched the one standing) and one of the little redbud trees; there might be another, I'll check tomorrow. The live oak in the southeast corner that was retained from when the park was a parking lot has some dead spots, but as a whole is still alive for now. The droughts this year have really compounded with the cold snaps the last two winters to start hurting or killing a lot of trees. They can handle seasonal variation, but they're not used to the extreme being farther each way and in shorter succession. It's supposed to be another relatively dry winter, which is more bad news. October is supposed to be out second wettest month, and we've barely had any rain since those two weeks in August where all the summer's rain fell at once.

northsouth wrote:

potatocoins wrote:

northsouth wrote:Been walking through here on lunch breaks again recently now that the weather has finally cooled down, and it looks like some of the trees didn't make it through the summer drought.

Super unfortunate.

How’s the activity level here?

Sometimes there a few people and others a bit more, but that might just be a matter of weather and time of day (I take my lunch break a bit late).

IcedCowboyCoffee wrote:That's a shame. Anyone know what kind of trees they were?

One or two I think were sycamores (one's been removed and I'm not 100% sure it matched the one standing) and one of the little redbud trees; there might be another, I'll check tomorrow. The live oak in the southeast corner that was retained from when the park was a parking lot has some dead spots, but as a whole is still alive for now. The droughts this year have really compounded with the cold snaps the last two winters to start hurting or killing a lot of trees. They can handle seasonal variation, but they're not used to the extreme being farther each way and in shorter succession. It's supposed to be another relatively dry winter, which is more bad news. October is supposed to be out second wettest month, and we've barely had any rain since those two weeks in August where all the summer's rain fell at once.

Plus there might be transplant shock involved.

Went by today, updated dead tree total is 5 (four sycamores and one redbud). But in a better development, two of the swinging benches have been reinstalled!

potatocoins wrote:

northsouth wrote:Been walking through here on lunch breaks again recently now that the weather has finally cooled down, and it looks like some of the trees didn't make it through the summer drought.

Super unfortunate.

How’s the activity level here?

I know on Saturdays and especially Sundays, the park is pretty lively with people waiting for brunch at Ellen's. I've waited in the park for my table several times.

vman wrote:I know on Saturdays and especially Sundays, the park is pretty lively with people waiting for brunch at Ellen's. I've waited in the park for my table several times.

The last time I went (which was over a year ago) was also on a Saturday or Sunday and I noticed the same thing too. It was great to see, I was just wondering if it was busy because the park was relatively new.

Glad to hear that it still is a bit lively.

The West End, I imagine, still seems pretty dead too, but I would much rather have a quiet park than an empty parking lot if I was trying to market the office and retail space. Please correct me if I am wrong on the West Ends activity level I just have no reason to be down there so I never even pass by it.

The dead trees have been replaced recently. The replacement redbud is just in time to bloom, while with the sycamores they took out the one that (as far as I was aware) survived, I guess to match better with the new trees.

Went by for the first time since the spring, they've put the swinging seats/benches back in again (all of them this time). Hopefully they stay this time.

That's great to hear. Thanks for the update.

northsouth wrote:Went by for the first time since the spring, they've put the swinging seats/benches back in again (all of them this time). Hopefully they stay this time.

Happen to remember if they were rebuilt/reinforced (as they said would be the case after the original swings were broken opening weekend)?

undefinedprocess wrote:

northsouth wrote:Went by for the first time since the spring, they've put the swinging seats/benches back in again (all of them this time). Hopefully they stay this time.

Happen to remember if they were rebuilt/reinforced (as they said would be the case after the original swings were broken opening weekend)?

I can't particularly remember how stout the steel pipes and/or hinges were before as compared to now. Maybe the steel is bigger?