Civil engineering company Dunaway is giving San Antonians a first glimpse of the long-awaited Berkley V. and Vincent M. Dawson Park being developed adjacent Hays Street Bridge, MySA reports.
The company unveiled renderings of the park earlier this week. The site will include a series of plazas, a 12,000-square-foot skate park, green space, a playground and an event area centered on a relocated gazebo from the Alamo grounds, according to Dunaway’s website.
The revitalization of the 1.7-acre property follows a years-long legal fight between the Hays Street Bridge Restoration Group and the City of San Antonio.
Brothers Berkley and Vincent Dawson — the former owners of the Anheuser-Busch franchise BudCo Ltd. — donated the land to the city in 2007. They requested that if the site becomes a park, it carry their last name.
However, in 2012, the city sold the property to a private developer Mitch Meyer, who proposed building a multistory apartment complex. Neighborhood activists fought the idea, saying the structure would block downtown views and hasten gentrification in the East Side neighborhood.
Finally, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that San Antonio wasn't immune to a breach of contract lawsuit filed in 2012. That suit argued that city officials violated state law by selling the property and not reserving it for park land as promised.
In the end, the city and Meyer agreed to a “land swap” that moved the apartments to another location a mile south and allowed plans for the green space to move forward.
Dunaway told MySA that construction should begin in either late spring or early summer of 2022.
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