Best Park in Northeast Tarrant County

Best Park in Northeast Tarrant County Bicentennial Park redevelopment is a dynamic triumph

The story of Southlake’s premier park redevelopment began when Parkhill | Schrickel Rollins took the existing puzzle pieces of Bicentennial Park and re-envisioned it as a unified place of recreation.

The name Bicentennial Park is emblazoned on a massive powder coated steel archway at the Southlake Boulevard Entrance. City leaders dedicated the park in 1976, and Parkhill | SR has been a major contributor to its redevelopment over the past 15 years.

Visitors see a sequence of important flags from U.S. history as they enter and exit the park.

Flag plaques are located along the sidewalk/trail at the entrances across from each boulevard flag providing a description of the flag and what makes it significant.

Buildings throughout the park were designed to resemble buildings in a 1920s town square complete with brick paved pedestrian areas. Antique style lights and neatly patterned arched windows are just some of the techniques used to provide the 1920s character. This particular building contains concessions, restrooms and storage for surrounding baseball fields.

Before and after: Early on during the park concept and preliminary engineering design, the Public Works Department requested that the design team address downstream flooding issues as well as satisfy on-site development requirements.

“"We look at drainage challenges as an opportunity to combine the disciplines of civil engineering and landscape architecture in order to provide a solution that is practical, functional and visually pleasing.” — Sanford LaHue, PE, Senior Practice Leader in Parkhill | SR’s Water Resources Sector

As with many of Parkhill | SR park development projects, the team introduces a water element into the design when possible for many reasons. Visually, water elements are attractive amenities that can be enjoyed by park users in various ways. Functionally, water elements can provide for stormwater management and an alternate source of irrigation water supply/storage. The two Bicentennial Park ponds were designed to address each of these criteria.

One of the signature elements of the park is the triple-barrel, pre-cast arch bridge at the main pond. The pond edges are decorated with native plantings and help contain stormwater during large rain events. When necessary, on-site wells supply additional water for the ponds to irrigate the park.

“We started out providing a concept plan for a 22-acre land donation adjacent to the park, but then realized we had an opportunity to unify the entire 80-acre park instead of just adding another piece to the puzzle,” said James Williams, Parkhill | SR project manager for Bicentennial Park. “The park was completely re-envisioned with a schematic master plan. It’s been a total transformation. Over the past 15 years, we’ve been counted on throughout the development of the park. It’s pretty special to consider that the city’s staff has trusted us to be their advisor from the beginning … I think that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Note the various transformations of the park, clockwise starting at upper left. The fourth frame identifies such features as an igloo net climber, space-net climber, outdoor musical instruments, hideout caves, toddler slides, spinner bowls, a sand play area, and dueling ziplines.

Phase 1 included a baseball complex.

During the park transformation, most of the trees were preserved. Designers and construction crews worked around 90% of the existing trees to protect them. The team has planted 998 trees to date as part of the Bicentennial Park Redevelopment.

A new large tree at right stands in the shade of an existing majestic mesquite tree.

Another challenge during the design of the park was hiding a 350-space parking lot from the single family residences along Shady Oaks Drive as they had once overlooked a pasture. With this in mind, the design team dropped the parking lot down 15 feet from Shady Oaks Drive so that passersby and neighboring homes would see a view of the new baseball complex instead of a large parking lot. The grand staircase was created as a focal point and provides access to Shady Oaks Drive. It's also an excellent location for team pictures.

“Where some may see a challenge or problem, we see an opportunity to create something unique for our client,” James said about hiding the parking lot.

The designers successfully met another challenge: keeping two ballparks and a tennis center in operation during the construction. The team added six new tennis courts and solved drainage issues. On approximately 80 acres, the park now contains the largest public tennis center in Northeast Tarrant County. The park currently is home to 21 lighted tennis courts, 11 lighted baseball fields, three basketball courts, an in-line hockey rink and The Marq Recreation & Community Center.

A major goal in the redevelopment of the Park was to provide vehicular access throughout the park. At the beginning of the project, portions of the park were only accessible from a particular road. The design team created an east-west boulevard along with a decorative central round-a-bout to unify the park, and provide vehicular access from any of the three surrounding public roadways to all areas of the park.

The theme of the park reflects Southlake’s downtown 1920s architectural theme. This is the Parks & Recreation Maintenance Building, which serves as the primary home for the City's Parks & Recreation Maintenance Team. It houses a maintenance facility, which was combined with the communications center. Inside is an internal bay wash, maintenance bays, conference rooms and a break room.

The city’s premier playground is considered the most popular feature by children, who play near a concrete baby dragon, the team mascot of the city’s Carroll Senior High School. The south entrance is guarded by a mother dragon. Dueling ziplines and a splash pad are two favorite activities.

Clockwise from top left, children gather at the zipline starting pad; Jackson, James' son, demonstrates the zipline; Mayor Laura Hill of Southlake enjoys the space net climber; and children have fun on the spinner seats and in the sand play area while parents enjoy the shade of existing oak trees.

Visitors can climb the stone steps to the toddler slides at left. At right, the dragon was made from sculpted, detailed shotcrete.

Kids explore fun climbing features, oversized outdoor musical instruments and shallow hideout caves, in the shadowed area of the bottom left photo.

Children's parties, sports events and nighttime events help make the park a destination place. Center: A crowd enters the park on Opening Day. In bottom photo, daylilies add a pop of bright color in front of one of three pavilions that can be rented for parties.

Clockwise from top left: The all-abilities Miracle Field and “blast ball” field; one of the nine new baseball fields; a girl singing the National Anthem; and a popular photo opp spot. The Miracle Field, sponsored by the Texas Rangers, was one of the first of its kind, according to MySouthlakeNews.com.

Fans at the concession stand have a clear view of games as well as those in the grandstand. The design elevated the Concession/Restroom Building so that spectators could view the game from behind the bleachers.

The signboard above the scorer’s table was designed so that the field could be sponsored. At the time of construction, the City was looking into different types of sponsorship to support the parks system.

Landscaping sets off the metalwork in grand style. In the 1920s, walkways and driveways were often lined with perennials such as roses, and they have never gone out of style.

The baseball complex was designed as a fully enclosed complex with ticket booths to allow for tournament play.

The field layouts were designed to look like an early 1900s baseball field. Hybrid bermuda turfgrass and a proprietary infield surfacing mix allow young players to feel like Major Leaguers.

The team designed an extensive hike and bike trail system throughout the park.

Visitors often walk the grounds in the evening hours.

The park has won awards for its design from the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Texas Recreation and Park Society.

“Southlake has worked with other local qualified firms on several park projects,” Tribble wrote, “but Parkhill | SR has proven to be the right choice. They assembled a top-notch team of professionals to complete all aspects of these projects, stayed on schedule, under budget, and displayed the patience, flexibility, and attention to detail necessary to see these projects through successful completion.”

Appreciate