A Harris County Precinct 4 project to turn the Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve into a public park is moving ahead of schedule as the park is on track to open in spring 2017, officials said.

The 80-acre park—located at 20215 Chasewood Park Drive in The Vintage—is centered on Marshall Lake near Hwy. 249 and will form a part the Cypress Creek Greenway system of trails, which includes 40 miles of trails that run along Cypress Creek from Hwy. 290 to Hwy. 59.

“Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve is an exciting project because it provides us with an anchor park along the string of pearls that is the Cypress Creek Greenway,” Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle said.

Efforts to turn the preserve into a public park began in 2009, but the economic downturn slowed progress, Cagle said.

County officials approved a $3.4 million contract last December for road improvements and hike and bike trails through the preserve. Work began on Phase 1 of the project in March, which involved the construction of roads, parking lots, utility infrastructure and a restroom facility.

Work is now moving ahead of schedule despite flooding earlier this year, in part because of an agreement with the Prestonwood Forest Utility District, Cagle said.

PFUD is allowing the county to use its former fire station building on the property, which is being converted into a staff building with a live-in site caretaker.

Phase 2, the final phase of the project, is scheduled to end in 2017 and includes the construction of a bridge across Cypress Creek and paved trail connections to the parking lot.

Mike Howlett, special projects coordinator for Precinct 4, said the project will include roughly 1.7 miles of paved trail that will circle Marshall Lake.

The preserve will be a nature park and will not include playground or sports equipment, officials said.

“I’m excited to give our neighborhood easy access to the system of trails and parks along Cypress Creek,” said Derryl York, member of the PFUD board of directors.

The vacant fire station building was previously used by Cypress Creek Volunteer Fire Department.

“If we had to build our own staff building, we wouldn’t have had the funds to pursue this project right now,” Howlett said. “This probably saved about $2 million.”

The preserve was donated to Precinct 4 in January 2009 by Kickerillo Companies and Mischer Investments. The companies had purchased several hundred acres of land previously owned by Hewlett-Packard to develop The Vintage community.