Near Southside, Inc.
An early rendering of Fire Station Park's skate plaza
It'll be a year or so until the Near Southside's anticipated skate park opens to the public, but the project is making progress nonetheless, with significant funding coming through and initial renderings giving locals an idea of what to expect.
The project is an expansion of Fire Station Park at Hemphill Street and West Maddox Avenue. The first phase of improvements will cover roughly 1.5 acres — that includes a dog park, central green space, pump track for bikers, market plaza space for vendors, and, of course, the plaza for skateboarders and rollerbladers to shred.
The project began in 2016 when Near Southside, Inc., the Hemphill Corridor Task Force, and other neighborhood groups spearheaded the City of Fort Worth's acquisition of a vacant parcel of land adjacent to the Fire Station Community Center. Working with New York-based nonprofit Project for Public Spaces, Near Southside, Inc. gathered public input for the park — one of the requests being a skate park — and formulated a master plan approved by the city in 2019. Civil engineering firm Pacheco Koch has been tapped to serve as design consultant, with New Line Skateparks designing the skate plaza itself.
Construction drawings for the first phase of the expansion are "about 90% finished," says Allison Docker, director of urban design and placemaking at Near Southside, Inc. While renderings aren't final, they do offer a glimpse at what the skate park will look like.
Near Southside, Inc.
Rather than a traditional design with large, pool-like bowls, the skate plaza at Fire Station Park will be a more flexible space with multiple skateable elements.
"It's ultimately a plaza that's flexible for use of space, but every element within it is a skateable element," Docker says. "It's not the pools with a big deep bowl, that kind of thing. It's more of an urban, skateable plaza."
Near Southside, Inc. is currently working to raise money for the project before its fundraising deadline in November. Funding comes partially from the city's park dedication fees, and the city also plans to match up to $600,000 of funds raised by Near Southside, Inc. The project has an overall budget of about $1.6 million.
According to Docker, Fort Worth's passionate skate community has already stepped up to help back the park. She says about $75,000 has been raised through grassroots contributions. The Skatepark Project (formerly the Tony Hawk Foundation) donated $5,000, and Near Southside also recently received a $50,000 check from the Scott Foundation.
After the first phase of the project is complete, future plans include an expansion and renovation of the Fire Station Community Center and improvements to the playground.
"This is a park for everybody," Docker says. "Everyone in the community should be able to visit this space, be a part of it, and find something they can partake in."
Near Southside, Inc. expects the project to break ground in the first or second quarter of early 2022. Those interested in donating can do so here.
