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HARLINGEN — After more than five years on their drawing board, city officials are scratching plans for a $2.5 million amphitheater from blueprints plotting the development of a multi-million-dollar project aimed at turning Lon C. Hill Park into the area’s first destination park.
Under the city’s past administration, officials planned the amphitheater as the centerpiece of the project’s ambitious second phase, which once carried a $4.1 million price tag.
At City Hall, City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez is scrapping plans for the amphitheater while holding off on construction of a proposed adaptive sports park after the coronavirus pandemic’s supply chain crisis helped boost its cost from an estimated $916,062 to $1.7 million.
Instead, officials are planning to request a second round of bids to develop a $727,950, 0.8-mile-long lighted walking trail, the second phase’s sole project.
Amphitheater too small, costly
Since the city’s past administration unveiled its original plans calling for a $12.9 million super park, officials have been revamping the project’s blueprint.
“The plan we came up with was a conceptual plan,” Javier Mendez, the city’s parks director, said in an interview. “As we started carving away at the master plan, there might be changes.”
As early as 2021, architects were designing the proposed amphitheater to feature a timber canopy along with seating for 792, with room for 524 more on its grassy hill.
“That was one of the draws for this project and a focal point,” Mendez said.
But as officials reviewed blueprints for the project’s second phase, they scrapped plans for the amphitheater, proposed to stand between the park’s all-inclusive playground and the Harlingen Boys and Girls Club.
“We’re probably not going to go forward with that,” Gonzalez said in an interview. “It costs $2 million, and we’re probably not going to use it.”
Amid the park’s constraints, officials determined they couldn’t build an amphitheater big enough to serve as a venue for festivals held at the park, he said.
“It wasn’t going to be big enough for RioFest or Freedom Fest,” he said.
While planning the second phase, Mendez led a study showing the park didn’t offer enough room on which to build an amphitheater along with parking lots.
“As we started researching it, we felt we wouldn’t meet the specifications for use of an amphitheater,” he said. “We felt the area wasn’t big enough for the audience, and we would be reducing the amount of parking.”
Adaptive field on hold as costs soar
Meanwhile, officials are holding off on plans to build the proposed 225-foot adaptive sports park after its price tag swelled from an estimated $916,062 to $1.7 million.
Now, they’re waiting on the Community Improvement’s Board’s budget, which increases by about $2 million a year, to build reserves before funding the project, Gonzalez said.
The destination park’s blueprints call for the adaptive sports field to stand at the site of a 225-foot baseball park at the corner of Washington Avenue and J Street.
As part of the project, officials plan to build covered bleachers while installing synthetic turf to turn the field into a sporting venue aimed at children with special needs.
From across the area, the adaptive sports field is expected to help draw families with special needs children to the park featuring one of the city’s award-winning all-inclusive playgrounds, sprawling mazes of play stations designed for all children, including those with special needs.
The adaptive sports park, which could become a venue for the Miracle League, which sponsors teams made up of children with special needs, could also stage Little League games while offering the nearby Boys and Girls Club a playing field, Mendez said.
Cutting walking trail’s costs
Now, Mendez is shopping around for solar lighting to try to cut the walking trail’s cost.
“If we can find some lights that would be beneficial to us, there’s a cost savings,” he said.
Last month, city commissioners requested Mendez go out for a second round of construction bids after Peacock General Contractors, a Harlingen company, presented a $1.2 million bid for the trail’s construction.
Retractable roof planned over Harlingen Field
In 2017, the city’s past administration unveiled plans for a $12.9 million destination park which would be designed as the area’s premier outdoor venue, expected to draw out-of-town families to the city’s shops and restaurants.
To fund the project, officials have turned to the Harlingen Community Improvement Board, whose budget is funded through a one-eighth-cent sales tax earmarked to finance so-called quality-of-life projects such as parks.
In early 2021, the past administration unveiled the opening of the park’s $3.3 million first phase.
In the original blueprints, the destination park’s fifth phase called for the installment of a $1.2 million retractable roof over Harlingen Field, part of a plan to hold concerts in the stadium.
As officials continuing reviewing the proposed project, commissioners will determine whether to go ahead with stadium’s overhaul, Mendez said.
“I think we’re headed in the direction of using Harlingen Field for special events,” he said.
