It’s Open! – Hundreds attend BMX/Skate Park Opening

Congratulations to the Austin Parks and Recreation Dept for a job well done.  It looks like the new BMX/Skate Park will rival the Liz Carpenter Fountain at Butler Park for most popular park feature!

The Mayor and the Media

 

 

 

Austin BMX & Skate Park Opens June 16th

(From the City of Austin – we’re SO excited about this – photos are from the construction phase…)

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department will open the Austin BMX & Skate Park with a Grand Opening Celebration on Thursday, June 16, 2011, at 10:00 a.m., 1213 Shoal Creek Boulevard.

The department will hold a brief program between 10 a.m. and 12:00 p.m and will officially open the park to the public at 12:00 noon. The Grand Opening will feature skate demos, refreshments, music and guest speakers.

The BMX and Skateboarding community is eagerly awaiting the opening of this new state of the art BMX and Skateboard facility. The Austin BMX & Skate park project was funded by citizens through the 2006 Bond Election. The BMX and Skateboard stakeholder community was involved in getting Austin voter’s support for this growing recreational activity and was also very involved throughout the design process of the park.

The artwork for the BMX Skate Park was commissioned through the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places Program, which allocates 2% of estimated construction costs of all eligible capital improvement projects toward the acquisition of artwork for City facilities. Chris Levack was selected as the artist for the public art components for this project through a competitive Request for Qualifications and interview process. He designed, fabricated and installed “Iron Wave,” the skate-able element in the northwest corner of the park, and “Trilobite Arbor,” the shade structure that provides users and visitors a break from the Texas sun. Levack bridges the park’s natural and man-made surroundings with both art pieces, as the “wave” references the water of nearby Shoal Creek and the “trilobites” that shape the arbor canopies are visual reminders of the past life forms that once inhabited the Creek. The artist will be on hand to discuss his work at the Grand Opening this Thursday.

The project was designed by New Line Skate parks out of Canada and was engineered by Baker-Aicklen & Associates and Jose Guerra, Inc. Construction of the BMX & Skate park was done by Prism Development and California Skate parks. The construction contract was authorized by the City Council in May 2010 and construction began in October 2010. The total cost for the park is $1.7 million.

House Skate/BMX Park – Getting Closer

Took these photos on the way home from a volunteer workday today (4/23/11) – looks like most of the technical features are nearly complete and they are getting ready to pour more of the flat areas.

BMX/Skate Park Update 2/25/11

We posted a set of photos one month ago showing the progress of the BMX/Skate Park, being built by the Austin Parks and Recreation Department with funding from the 2006 City Bond Election.  Here’s a new set from Friday, 2/25, taken from the third floor of the ACC parking garage. A lot more of the ramps and special features have been poured and more are being formed.  Getting much closer.  The BMX/Skate Park is located next to House Park and the Austin Recreation Center just off of N. Lamar Blvd.  This will be one of the most popular new parks in the city when it opens.

 

New BMX/Skate Park Taking Shape

One of the most anticipated (well, by me) projects from 2006 bond election is the combination BMX/Skate Park that is now under construction across from the Austin Recreation Center and House Park.  It’s coming along nicely, it has a bowl area and a separate more urban area, along with a pedestrain observation center in the middle of the urban area.  I took these photos on my way home from the Greenbelt Guardians workday at Homedale Access Trail (Barton Creek) from the fourth floor of the ACC parking garage which gave me a good view of the work underway (yes, I climbed the stairs and didn’t drive up there.)

The park was designed by New Line Skateparks, Inc. and is under construction under contract to the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Dept by Prism Development and California Skateparks.

BMX / Skate Park Pre-Construction Photos

The long awaited BMX / Skate Park at the site of the Old Austin Recreation Center and tennis court is being prepared for construction activity. (ACC Rio Grande parking garage is on one side, Shoal Creek Trail across the street, and House Park and the Austin Recreation Center on the north side.) Here’s a few photos of signage and fencing in place.  We’ll keep you updated with photos as work progresses.