A 26-acre Dallas park will be built in the Cadillac Heights neighborhood, officials announced this week. The area is where the city has purchased many homes in the past to protect families from flooding.
Cadillac Heights is located near the Trinity River, and new levees are also being built with federal funding to alleviate future flooding.
Now, city officials believe that building a park on city-owned land will help improve the neighborhood.
Roland G. Parrish Park is located at the southeast corner of Cedar Crest Boulevard and Morrell Road.
“This is truly transformative and a purposeful project,” said Dallas City Councilwoman Carolyn King Arnold.
The homes that once nestled beneath the giant trees of Cadillac Heights were demolished after a city takeover forced families out of the flood-prone area.
Tony Bueno is one of the few residents left on the side street where many homes once stood.
“It's kind of sad to see everyone move on because everyone was friends or family,” he says.
NBC 5 visited the area in July 1990, when many families were trying to recover from the May 1990 flood.
Many houses suffered major damage. One man was still living in his car after the floods he photographed destroyed his home.
For years, the city of Dallas also considered building a new police academy on the acquired Cadillac Heights land. Instead, a police academy will be built on the University of North Texas Dallas campus.
Concerns about pollution from nearby industries were also a factor in the city's takeover by former Cadillac Heights residents.
“We want to make sure that environmental justice is part of social justice in this park,” Arnold said.
To finally utilize city land as a public good, Roland G. Parrish Park will be named after a successful Dallas businessman.
The site, which currently has fewer adjacent industrial uses, will also include playing fields for soccer, football and even cricket.
“It's going to include a trail that goes around the entire park. It's going to include a playground, basketball, all kinds of amenities for families,” said Dallas Parks Director John Jenkins. “It can be the focal point of a community.”
There's other things happening around Cadillac Heights that many people wouldn't have expected just a few years ago.
Four new townhomes have been completed directly across Cedar Crest Boulevard. Several more are under construction.
A few blocks away from Morrell Road, an additional seven residential complexes with 153 units are under construction in an area previously abandoned for new construction.
Swede Hansson of the project's developer, Smart Living Residential, said Dallas' boom is spreading to this part of the city.
“It started in Deep Ellum, progressed to West Dallas and then moved to Bishop Arts,” he said. “We're experiencing massive net immigration. It's Economics 101, supply and demand. The demand for housing is huge.”
He said the Cedarcrest-Cadillac Heights area has the topography and many advantages, and being so close to downtown Dallas and having a park nearby would be welcome.
“As you drive by, there's a lot of natural trees and green space. That really ties in with what we're trying to do here,” Hanson said.
Councilman Arnold, who represents the area, said investing in the park also shows the city's commitment to equity.
“This has made Dallas a city that lives up to its word of equity in all under-resourced areas of the city,” she said.
Resident Tony Bueno said he had received offers from Dallas in the past to buy his home, but they weren't good enough to buy another home elsewhere.
Now, he worries that a big new park will increase the value of his property and increase his tax burden, something that is happening in many other developing areas of Dallas.
“It's going to hurt some people, but it's nice to see the big smiles on the kids' faces at the park,” he said.
Jenkins said $8 million in final design and construction costs are in the bank and ready for use.
Roland G. Parrish Park in Cadillac Heights is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
