Construction update on Lexington’s new $39 million ‘living room,’ set to open in 2025

The Town Branch, the waterway Lexington was founded on, has largely been hidden from view for a century.

But workers are now cleaning out vegetation and restoring the banks of part of the creek that will be a focal point for the new $39 million Town Branch Park, a roughly 10-acre park in the center of downtown. It is the first large park to be built in downtown in decades.

After six years of private fundraising, the park broke ground in August.

“Town Branch Park was envisioned as Lexington’s living room, a place where everyone is welcome and the community can flourish,” said Allison Lankford, executive director of Town Branch Park, during the groundbreaking.

The next 12 months will see a former parking lot and underused space near Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena returned to a green space.

The plans call for a large amphitheater area, stage, dog park, children’s play area with water features and plenty of walking trails. A portion of the Town Branch Trail, which starts in Masterson Station Park and connects with the Legacy Trail at Midland Avenue and Third Street, will go through the park.

Since August, Dean Builds contractors have uprooted the asphalt parking lot. The group is also building berms and retaining walls on the side of the park closest to Central Bank Center. Those retaining walls will serve as the backbone for a tiered amphitheater or great lawn that faces the stage. Restoring a portion of the creek has also been a priority over the past several months.

Boston-based Sasaki is the lead designer, supported by a team of local firms — EHI, Strand and CARMAN—as well as Atlanta-based Rabun.

In 2024, the bulk of the park will be built out. Much of the work is starting toward the Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena side of the park and will work its way toward Oliver Lewis Way Bridge. Building the stage and pavilion, which will also have community rooms and bathroom facilities, will begin in 2024.

One of the last features to be installed will be the play area that includes a large wooden mill and multiple water features.

In addition, crews paid for by the city of Lexington are re-configuring the High and Manchester streets entrance to the park adjacent to Central Bank Center.

The Manchester Street entrance to the park on High Street was closed for much of November so crews could work on the new entrance. That new entry includes building a tunnel under Manchester Street for pedestrians.

When the digging is done, crews will also build a pedestrian bridge into the park. That work will begin this summer, said Mark Feibes, of the city’s engineering department.

The city will spend $5 million on the new High Street entrance. The new entrance to the park is on city-owned land or right-of-way. The original entrance for the park was on Main Street. But a disagreement between the Main Street Baptist Church, the city and Central Bank Center over parking for the church meant the park had to move its entrance to High Street. The dispute between the church and the city has largely been settled.

“We plan to open to the public in the fall of 2025 or possibly late summer,” Lankford said. How quickly the grass grows and stabilizes will determine an opening date.

This is not the first time private fundraising has been used to build parks in Fayette County. But it’s been 30 years since the last one opened. Many downtown parks were built using private fundraising — including Thoroughbred and Triangle parks which were built by the Triangle Foundation, a nonprofit that built multiple parks in the Lexington area. Thoroughbred Park opened in 1992. Triangle Park opened in 1981.

More fundraising and a business plan

In addition to construction, Lankford and her team are raising money for an endowment for operations of the public park. The goal is to raise $7 million.

“People know that (the park) is going to happen, which makes fundraising easier for the endowment,” Lankford said.

Town Branch Park staff are also developing policies and procedures for when the park opens. Tops on the to-do list is fine-tuning its business plan to generate income. Town Branch Park staff has developed relationships with other parks operated by nonprofits. Those parks include Klyde Warren in Dallas, Waterloo Park in Austin, and Discovery Green in Houston.

“We also looked at Bryant Park in New York City,” Lankford said. Bryant Park is also run by a nonprofit. It is not dependent on taxpayer dollars for operational costs.

The park’s green amphitheater can seat up to 5,000 people and will likely be the focal point of rental income for the park. Lankford said she is also working with Central Bank Center and VisitLex, the city’s tourism commission, to discuss use of the park for conventions in coming years.

In addition, multiple nonprofit groups have expressed interest in using the park once complete.

As part of its agreement with the city, Town Branch Park has pledged that the portion of the Town Branch Trail that goes through the park will remain open to the public regardless of private programming in the park.

Lankford said the group is leaning heavily on those other nonprofit-run parks to determine best practices.

“It’s really exciting to be down in that space right now,” Lankford said. “You can finally start to see the park come together.”

To find out more about Town Branch Park go to .townbranchpark.org.