Frisco City Council members approved a $14 million, roughly one-acre expansion for Kaleidoscope Park and a master plan update during a March 4 meeting. The park expansion approval comes almost exactly five months after Kaleidoscope Park officially opened on Oct. 5.
Mayor Jeff Cheney said while opening the park “a few short months ago,” city officials realized they were onto something and wanted to continue building it out into “something really, really special.”
“We're excited about this,” council member Angelia Pelham said.
The details
The expansion will add 1.44 acres to the park and include new landscaping and amenities, including:
- A water feature
- Outdoor video screen
- Stage
The master plan update will add a 1,100-space public parking garage in a 2.7 acre lot just south of the park. At least 100 spaces would be reserved for park visitors, according to meeting documents.
There are “numerous community benefits” in the two agreements, said Ken Schmidt, the city’s director of special projects.
“Kaleidoscope Park, certainly, just opened in October, but it's already a very popular, not only community amenity, but regional amenity,” he said. “This would build on that and enhance it.”
Adding parking would meet the demand from visitors, he said.
The parking garage would serve as the podium for a new 100,000 square-foot Class A office tower.
“Much like Klyde Warren Park had a halo effect in uptown [Dallas], this has a great opportunity to have a halo effect at Hall Park,” Schmidt said.
The expansion plans and update, which were two separate items requiring council approval, both passed with a 4-0 vote. Council member Laura Rummel was absent from the meeting and council member Brian Livingston recused himself from the decision due to “a potential conflict with my employer," he said.
The Frisco Community Development Corporation and Economic Development Corporation approved both of the agreements in late February.
The breakdown
The park expansion and parking garage projects are being funded by a mix of funding from the city and the Hall Group. Both the FCDC and the Hall Group are contributing $7 million toward the park expansion.
Any additional costs above $14 million would be the Hall Group’s responsibility, according to meeting documents. The park expansion would need to be finished within two years of the city issuing the development permits.
The FEDC is contributing a $7 million grant toward the parking garage that requires it to open by June 2028. The city is also amending the financing plan for Tax Reinvestment Zone No. 6 to extend the agreement by 15 years to fund the projects.
Something of note
Updating the master plan formally removes any plans to build a performing arts center in Hall Park, according to meeting documents. Hall Park was previously identified as a potential site for the joint city and Frisco ISD performing arts center.
The FISD arts center is currently under construction at a different site and the city is currently pursuing a separate arts facility project, the Frisco Center for the Arts.
Removing the arts center portion of the master plan removes the Frisco Community Development Corporation and FISD as members of the agreement. Doing so releases $6 million the FCDC had committed in the original agreement and reallocates it toward the Kaleidoscope Park expansion.
