Dallas is hoping to build an “iconic park” next to the ruined Valley View Mall.

If all goes according to plan in the city of Dallas, a large new park will help improve the green environment in North Dallas. The City Council has approved a grant application under the Heritage Outdoor Recreation Program (ORLP), which could be up to $10 million for a new park in the Dallas International District.

The park, which is planned to be located north of Interstate 635 near Preston Road, will be adjacent to where the remains of the Valley View Mall await final demolition. The National Park Service awards grants, with selected projects selected from a national pool of applicants for funding by the Director of the Park Service.

According to Dan Rees, local parks grant manager for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, proposals for this grant must meet a number of criteria, including the ability to “provide new recreational opportunities, especially those that increase access to natural benefits such as green space.” , shady areas (through tree cover), and natural landscapes that help cool the air and reduce the urban heat island effect, reduce pollution, and positively impact mental and physical health,” he wrote in an email. Observer.

Dallas City Council member Janey Schultz says the city has “taken every step possible,” including getting approval from the city’s parks department. Letters of support from state legislators and local organizations in her county were also collected for the grant application.

“This is going to be an iconic park,” Schultz said.

The piece of land being looked after by the council is one of five lots available for development in the International District. The 450-acre site was once dominated by the Valley View Mall and its parking lots, but this has not been the case since 2016, when the gradual closure and demolition process began. The AMC Cinema, the mall’s last tenant, closed in 2022.

Recently, City Council and Valley View Mall owners, Beck Ventures, have been constantly arguing among themselves in a battle of wills and accusations, but it looks like the mall is about to disappear entirely. Schultz said demolition of the remainder of the mall will begin in the spring and is expected to be completed in the summer. It’s been an unsightly mess for years, visible from one of the busiest freeways in Dallas. Freeing up this area will make room for long-awaited development.

“It will be a real demolition that people will be able to see,” she said. “Because once the ground is cleared, it will be much easier for the rest of the city and the developer community to envision what has been envisioned all these years and feel like it is becoming a reality and not just a dream.”

“Everyone will use this park like Central Park in New York.” — Janey Schultz, Dallas City Council

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The park is planned to have an area of ​​approximately 21 acres and will serve as an attraction for the types of recreation normally expected in the park, as well as a magnet for housing, retail and office development. Schultz said the Valley View area is classified as a “green wilderness” according to the Trust for Public Land, meaning there is an extreme lack of green space within a radius of several miles.

Rees says three Texas projects have already received ORLP grants. Recent grants have been awarded to Austin’s Montopolis Park Pool and Edward Rendon Sr. Metro Park and Buffalo Bend Hidalgo Greenway Park in Harris County. Each of these projects is designed to improve and expand existing parks, but the Dallas proposal involves building a new park.

The city only became aware of the possibility of receiving a grant from the National Park Service for this purpose only “in the last few months,” Schultz said. It could be September or October before the city knows if it will receive a grant.

Schultz says much of the proposed park’s layout is detailed in the 2013 Valley View-Galleria Area Plan Study, which features an expansive urban landscape surrounding a lush, large park. It looks like another famous city park we’ve heard about before, and a picture very different from what can be seen on the spot now.

“Everyone will use this park like Central Park in New York,” she said. “Central Park is a vision that we wanted original drawings to be created in 2013. In the midst of such intense use, there will be a beautiful green space.”