Daily Nebraskan

Issue date: 12/4/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy Art

The area east of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's City Campus just got one more project added to its redevelopment plan.

A new park is slated for construction as part of the Antelope Valley Project, which could already include UNL's proposed research and development corridor.

Developers compare the proposed site to Chicago's Millennium Park and invoked New York's Central Park for the park's working title, "Lincoln Central Park."

The six-acre park will run from O to Vine streets and stretch between O and S streets. The Antelope Valley waterways will run through the park and give the park its theme, water.

The park will also have an amphitheater, fountains, waterfalls, sculptures and a web of intertwining walkways.

Unique architecture and imprinted quotes from famous Nebraskans may be incorporated into gathering places as well.

Lynn Johnson, the director of Lincoln Parks and Recreation, said he hopes the park will be dedicated by spring 2010.

"Anything that would be a beautification or improvement in east downtown will be a positive thing," said Kelly Bartling, a UNL spokeswoman, "especially that area east of the Beadle Center."

The project should cost around $7.6 million; $3 million would come from the city to shape and seed the area.

The 2015 Vision Group, a private development group, would partner with the parks and recreation department to incur the last $4.6 million for the project, Johnson said.

The last major project the city's parks and recreation department worked on was the renovation of the Sunken Gardens at 27th Street and Capital Parkway, which the community supported highly, Johnson said.

"We were a little bit worried the public wouldn't understand and embrace this project," he said. "As the word has gotten out, a tremendous amount of support has been expressed."

In the 1940s, Pioneers Park was built and Holmes Lake was constructed during the 1960s, but Johnson said the new park would be a contemporary version that shows what parks are going to look like.

Johnson said redevelopment of the area would encourage private investment around it and hopefully spin off some economic investment.

"We're going to see an amazing transformation of that area in the next five years," Johnson said.

chrisrosacker@dailynebraskan.com

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