RALEIGH, N.C. — The highest point in this city is looking a little steeper this winter, thanks to the mounds of red earth exhumed by roaring excavators.
Crews are reconfiguring the land to create a new gathering space here. Come summer, this 17-acre site should be covered by 400 trees and more than 20 mounded gardens filled with native plants and walkways as well as bike paths connected to more than 100 miles of greenway stretching across Raleigh. In the center will be a manicured meadow welcoming aimless wanderers, sun worshipers and cultural events.
Many municipalities are developing ambitious new parks. But this $13 million project is not the brainchild of a mayor’s office or recreation advocates but the North Carolina Museum of Art, which owns the property.
Continued...
Read More
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon discusses the Northside St. Louis project and the state's desire to become the home of the new 1.75 billion dollar headquarters of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
Read More
A new city plan for Denver’s National Western Complex reveals details for a massive undertaking that aims to remake, reconnect and rejuvenate the 109-year-old site, with construction unfolding over a decade or longer.
But the city’s new master plan, to be released Thursday morning, doesn’t pin down a cost that previous studies suggest will soar well above $500 million. And it doesn’t say who will pay for the project, although officials have said they likely will ask taxpayers to kick in a portion and likely will seek private donors, too. The city also plans to apply for a state tourism funding program.
City officials and a National Western Stock Show leader declined to speculate on costs in detailing the new master plan draft to The Denver Post. They say they will finish a financing plan in mid-February, a few weeks before the City Council would consider adopting the final version of the National Western Center Master Plan.
Continued...
Read More
Calgary, Alberta — Overgrown with weedy brush and nothing inviting beyond a few metal benches and cracked pathways, St. Patrick's Island has long been the ugly sibling of the Calgary Zoo's St. George's Island and the festival-friendly Prince's Island.
Its Cinderella conversion will come at the hands of the redevelopment agency that controls East Village, and will follow a similar pattern of the nearby River Walk: clear it out, spruce it up and watch 'em come.
Landscape architects from Denver and New York were announced Wednesday to convert a haven for rough sleepers and drug dealers into a paradise of boardwalks, food concessions, skating and family picnics.
"We're quite confident we can create a place where people and kids and safely touch the river, put their toes in the water," said Mark Johnson of Colorado-based Civitas. "So that you can have the kind of adventure play you get in the mountains right in the core of the city."
Although the redesign is aimed at maintaining a natural feel on the island, the big first step will be razing invasive species of shrubbery and trees that have provided cover for the sleeping homeless.
It will have better "visual access" and much better lighting, Johnson said.
Continued...
Read More
Recent Comments