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Privately funded Downtown Civic Park cleared to move toward construction after council briefing
Summary
Fundraising group Lubbock Experience Inc. told the City Council it has the money to begin construction on the Downtown Civic Park and delivered a revised plan and timeline; council approved two related agenda items later in the meeting.
Lubbock Experience Inc. presented an updated construction plan and funding summary for the proposed Downtown Civic Park during the City Council work session on Aug. 26, saying the group has met its fundraising threshold to begin building and asking the council to take two related actions later in the meeting.
The group’s fundraising lead, Brad Moran, said the project team removed a planned splash pad from the design and replaced it with additional lawn area; the redesign and value-engineering work reduced the projected construction cost. Moran said the project has preconstruction expenditures just under $1.9 million, a remaining construction budget of about $6.7 million, and a total projected budget of roughly $12 million. He told the council the group has raised $9 million “to start construction,” with remaining pledges and an outstanding need for roughly $3 million for an endowment and initial operations.
Moran outlined next steps: select a general contractor, secure permits, finalize value engineering and bid documents, and start construction early in the calendar year after coordinating planting and site work with seasonal windows. He estimated construction would take nine to ten months once under way and said the team hopes for a public groundbreaking in October or November.
City staff and council members asked about the split between construction funds and operations funding. Dr. Wilson pressed for details of the “endowment and operations start up” that Moran said remains underfunded; Moran said the remaining funds will cover staff, security and basic maintenance as the park ramps up and that the operations program can be scaled during an initial period. Moran said some pledges are tied to construction benchmarks (signing, 50% completion, 100% completion) and that the team does not expect to require interim financing.
Council later approved two agenda items related to the park (agenda items 7.16 and 7.17) without further staff briefing; the motions passed unanimously. The council packet identifies Lubbock Experience Inc. as the private entity holding donations and TBG Group of San Antonio as the landscape/park designer. Moran said Drew Anderson will lead park operations once the fundraising and construction phases shift to operational planning.
The presentation noted donors and in-kind commitments, ongoing work to secure naming rights, and plans for a public fundraising campaign with a $250,000 target to build local visibility and recruitment of park ambassadors. Moran said the team is also pursuing a multi-million-dollar endowment to support ongoing operations and startup costs estimated at about $1.18 million.
No city general-fund construction dollars were proposed for park construction during the presentation; city staff repeated in the meeting that the project is privately funded.
