GREENER PASTURES

City unveils timeline for grand downtown San Antonio park

Construction is set to begin on Hemisfair's Civic Park this fall, with the opening scheduled for 2023.

Courtesy of GGN.

A groundbreaking Hemisfair park project finally has a date for its anticipated groundbreaking.

Construction on Civic Park, dubbed “the grandest of Hemisfair’s park series” and part of the three-park plan for the urban park district, will begin this fall. The City of San Antonio will accept contractor proposals for first-phase construction on its website starting February 15 and construction will begin after the San Antonio City Council, which reviewed the plan February 10, approves a contractor.

Civic Park is to be completed in two phases — the first involving 5 acres of the 9-acre park and accounting for a $28 million price tag — and all construction is scheduled to be completed by April 2023. The multiple-phase plan for the park was developed by the Hemisfair team, along with the City’s Public Works Department and park designer GGN.

“This is a huge step toward the long-anticipated groundbreaking of Hemisfair’s Civic Park,” says Hemisfair CEO Andres Andujar. “Parks have proven to be essential infrastructure in the pandemic as people turn to the safety, open spaces and fresh air of the outdoors. We look forward to reviewing the proposals from contractors who want to have a significant role in delivering a world-class park to San Antonio.”

The first phase of the Civic Park project was funded mostly through a city bond program, with the park originally expected to open in 2022, but pandemic challenges pushed back that timeline. Fewer details, including funding sources, are available about phase two of the project, which is estimated to cost $20 million.

Hemisfair recently received a $1 million donation from the Mays Family Foundation for the creation of the Peggy Mays Garden, which encompasses an area between the planned Civic Park and Yanaguana Garden, which opened in 2015 as the first of Hemisfair’s three planned public parks.

The third, Tower Park, is slated for construction in 2023 pending funding, according to Hemisfair. Though there are conceptual designs for Tower Park, more info about the timeline of that portion of the project isn’t yet available.

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Drop the Debt

Students of families making under $100,000 will get free tuition to UT

University of Texas at San Antonio/Instagram

This is an extension of a previous program with a lower income eligibility.

Beginning next fall, some students accepted into schools within the University of Texas system will receive free tuition and have all fees waived, the board of regents announced on Wednesday.

In order to qualify, families of undergraduates must make less than $100,000 a year.

The board gave preliminary approval to the plan on Wednesday. After the full board’s consideration and vote on Thursday, the plan will include a new, immediate infusion of $35 million directly to campuses to offer the financial aid benefit. The plan also directs additional investment in endowments supporting financial aid to ensure a commitment for tuition relief.

In 2019, the regents established a $167 million endowment at UT Austin to completely cover tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students from families with an income of up to $65,000. In 2022, the regents approved a second endowment of almost $300 million called “Promise Plus” to extend the program to all UT academic institutions.

“To be in a position to make sure our students can attend a UT institution without accruing more debt is very important to all of us [...]” Kevin P. Eltife, chairman of the board of regents, said.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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