Cary is preparing a future downtown park to show off to the rest of the Triangle
After years of planning and community input, the town of Cary has released the latest plans for its downtown park that will expand it and redevelop it into a new outdoor space for multiple uses.
The seven-acre Downtown Cary Park will be part of the town’s reimagined central town square on South Academy, East Park and Walker streets. The town square’s plans were initially proposed in 2001 and first fleshed out in a 2012 master plan.
But community input and town council decisions for the park began in 2018, including a council-appointed park developer and a community survey with over 1,500 responses, according to a timeline from the town.
“Many years in the making, the park is a well-conceived enhancement to Cary and the greater Triangle community that will offer something for everyone to enjoy,” the town said in a news release.
Ground breaking is scheduled for 2021 with full completion expected in 2023.
The town is envisioning the park as a herald for modern development and growth that will aim to bring in crowds from across the Triangle since it won’t be “a Cary-centric thing,” said Joy Ennis, the town’s general manager, in an interview.
“We also want to invite people from Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham and even farther out to come and experience this park and to see the wonderful things that Cary has to offer.”
The plan for the park includes farmers markets, a dog park, an elevated bridge and performance spaces. It will be funded by a public parks bond voted on by Cary residents last year.
Several commercial and residential real estate projects are underway in the area, including The Walker, an office building being built across from the park. A list of major upcoming housing developments in Wake County reported by The N&O include several in Cary.
“When the park succeeds, the new developments succeed, the businesses downtown succeed,” Ennis said.
The town completed the first phase of the park in early 2017, including a fountain, a performance space and lawn areas, totaling around one acre. The future expansion of the park will fill the remaining six acres, according to the Cary planning department.
“We see parks and open spaces as critical public infrastructure that make our communities stronger, healthier, and more connected,” said Cody Klein, a partner with OJB Landscape Architecture, the principal designer of the park. “We applaud the Town of Cary’s visionary investment in this type of public infrastructure as a critical foundation for the future growth of their downtown. This will be a park for the community, based on the community’s aspirations, for generations to come.”
