Park News

Ground breaks on new neighborhood greenspace in northeast Dallas

Bushmills Neighborhood Green

TPL

Ground has broken on a new greenspace in northeast Dallas: Bushmills Neighborhood Green, a 5.4-acre site at 10600 Black Walnut Dr. which sits along the Jackson Branch of White Rock Creek, began construction in mid-August and is expected to be completed in early 2026.

Once completed, Bushmills Neighborhood Green will provide a neighborhood greenspace within a 10-minute walk for 2,100 residents in the area.

Bushmills is the first of a five-site pilot program to expand access to greenspace across Dallas — part of the Dallas Greening Initiative (DGI), executed by the Trust for Public Land (TPL), in partnership with the City of Dallas, with 15 greenspaces planned over the next five years.

Bushmills Neighborhood Green was the first DGI site selected for community engagement, beginning in November 2023.

Neighborhood leaders and residents participated in three public meetings—including a pop-up park in partnership with Better Block—where they expressed a clear desire for passive, nature-based recreation where they could reconnect with nature. This feedback informed and shaped the greenspace's design, features, and amenities.

"We know that access to nearby nature improves health, reduces stress, and cools neighborhoods by several degrees,” says TPL Texas State Director Molly Morgan in a statement. “The groundbreaking at Bushmills Neighborhood Green is about honoring the voices of neighbors who asked for a place to enjoy the benefits of nature close to their home.“

The park will feature winding trails, benches, picnic areas, lighting, and a wildlife viewing station overlooking the restored creek.

Its centerpiece is a central pond, once hidden by overgrowth, that is now restored to provide scenic beauty, habitat for wildlife, and natural stormwater management thanks to Greenspace Dallas. Native plantings and a pollinator garden will further support environmental resilience and neighborhood cooling, while City-facilitated maintenance and volunteer “Friends of” groups ensure long-term stewardship.

The partnership also includes Greenspace Dallas, which is leading site cleanup and environmental preparations and has already restored visibility of the central pond, making it a scenic focal point once again for the neighborhood.

Dallas Greening Initiative
The Dallas Greening Initiative was launched in 2022 at the request of Mayor Eric Johnson, who called for an inventory of vacant city-owned land that could be transformed into parks. Mayor Johnson tapped Trust for Public Land to lead, develop, and deliver the program, with catalytic leadership and vision from Greening Czar Garrett Boone.

“The Dallas Greening Initiative is about elevating neighborhoods by turning overlooked spaces into community treasures,” Boone says in a statement. “Bushmills is the first step in that vision - a place where natural beauty is uncovered, neighbors are elevated, and everyone is welcome. Together, we’re creating a space that reflects the resilience, equity, and vitality we envision for the future of Dallas.”

Each DGI site budget is capped at $750,000, showing the affordability of the program to deliver benefits for residents. Ten percent of each site’s budget is allocated for ongoing maintenance, which will be carried out by Dallas Park & Recreation in partnership with local volunteers, with whom TPL works to form with Dallas Park and Recreation.

In Texas, TPL has preserved nearly 45,000 acres of land for public access to create several natural places treasured by Texans, including Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin, the popular Palo Duro Canyon in Canyon, Eagle Mountain Park in Fort Worth, and Buffalo Bayou in Houston.

Park news

New I-35 deck park in southern Dallas moves closer to spring 2026 debut

Courtesy rendering

Renderings for Halperin Park.

A massive deck park spanning Interstate 35E in southern Dallas is set to open in late spring 2026. Called Halperin Park, the five-acre community space has been under construction since 2017 and will be completed in two phases:

Phase One (finishing in late spring) will include the section from Ewing Avenue to Lancaster Avenue and will feature a pavilion, amphitheater, playground area, interactive fountains, a second level overlooking the Dallas Zoo and the highway, and a large event room for every dining and special events.

Phase Two (to be completed over the next five years) will add the park section toward Marsalis Avenue, with an additional pavilion and extra gathering space.

The project is being developed by the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation and built by the Texas Department of Transportation. Funding comes from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, as well as the private Halperin Foundation, which donated $23 million in 2024 and secured naming rights.

In January, the Dallas City Council approved spending up to $8 million to complete Phase One for spring completion.

The public-private initiative will create $1 billion in economy impact over the next five years, according to a study by UNT Dallas.

Rendering of Halperin ParkCourtesy rendering

A park with purpose
Developers say the park aims to integrate the west side of Oak Cliff, which was somewhat segregated with the construction of I-35 in Oak Cliff in the 1960s, leading to low-income communities and generational poverty.

The project started nine years ago, when the Texas Department of transportation planned a reconstruction of I-35 and began gathering neighbors’ feedback. The result was a plan to widen bicycle and pedestrian lanes in the service roads alongside the highway, and to build a deck over the highway between Ewing and Marsalis avenues, adjacent to the Dallas Zoo. (Similar Klyde Warren Park's "deck park" concept.)

While the project faced some skepticism at first, it later gained momentum as private supporters continued to join.

“Forty percent of the Dallas population lives in South Dallas, yet this segment only accounts for 15 percent of the tax base,” says April Allen, President and CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation, citing the opportunity to address the economic equality in the area through the development of the park and all the business it can bring.

Rendering of Halperin Park.Courtesy rendering

Neighborhood pride
For Allen, this project is personal. The Toronto-born executive first moved to Dallas 22 years ago to work at Neiman Marcus, after getting her engineering degree in Canada and her MBA at Harvard. Oak Cliff felt like the right place for her as an intown neighborhood, with a confluency of cultures, local pride and an entrepreneurial spirit, as she describes it. Her first Realtor told her Oak Cliff was “not the right place for her." Instead of choosing a different neighborhood, Allen chose a new Realtor.

She has lived on the same street in North Cliff since, now raising her two kids with her husband, an Oak Cliff native, whom she credits for her further understanding of the neighborhood, its roots and civic dynamics.

Under Allen’s leadership, Halperin Park is focused on a community-first approach that provides support to the neighbors through programs around health and wellness, after-school activities, local food trucks and markets, and educational workshops to help expand homeownership and financial acumen.

To highlight the history and culture of Oak Cliff, they will feature an annual Walk of Fame, lifting up the stories of those who contributed to Oak Cliff history, with the first one happening as part of the inauguration of the park, organizers say.

They will provide their own 24-hour security team to ensure a safe place for families and kids, with clean and well-lit crosswalks.

Given their proximity with the zoo, parking will be available on the East side of the park at the zoo site, with a walkway to the park. They are working on parking options for the West side.

“We want to create a space for community growth and more business in the area," says Allen. "We are already seeing this come to life with projects such as East Dock, and we are excited for future investment that the park will bring."

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