What’s next for the SouthPark vision plan
May 28, 2024
It’s go-time for SouthPark Community Partners after releasing a 10-year vision plan for the shopping, business and dining hub. With a playbook in place, what’s next for Team SouthPark?
by Sharon Smith
Thanks to the SouthPark vision-plan renderings, I can’t help but drive down Carnegie Boulevard and picture it: an inviting streetscape with ample space to host festivals. Why yes, that would work there.
Same with the tree-lined sidewalk by the mall on Fairview Road. The vision plan adds a linear park with benches and a meandering walkway. OK, that would fit well.
A revamped Symphony Park? Yes, please.
The SouthPark Forward 2035 Vision Plan aims to make all that and more a reality for people living, working and coming through SouthPark over the next 10 years. The $250 million plan has more than 60 projects designed around three themes: places, connections and mobility.
SouthPark Community Partners, which manages the area’s 1-mile municipal service district, based the plan on more than a year of community feedback.
“Here’s a menu of things we want to accomplish over the next decade,” says SCP President and CEO Adam Rhew. “We’re going to need everybody to lean in.” By everybody, he means public, private and nonprofit partners, as well as neighbors.
So far, Rhew says the response is very positive, with neighbors and business leaders asking how to help. ”We have this playbook, and now we’re asking people to find themselves and find their role on this team,” he says.
This summer, SCP will work with urban designers and landscape architects to drill down on details and cost. Rhew says there’s good momentum to deliver a couple of projects sooner than later, including a free shuttle service. With neighbor support, there’s also early potential to connect dead-end streets in adjacent neighborhoods to SouthPark’s core for better walkability.
No single project matters most. It’s the layering effect that leads to transformation — pairing a new Symphony Park with Carnegie Boulevard’s festival street, both of which visitors can access via The Loop trail or shuttles.
“It’s a 10-year plan, and I think we’ll use every day of those 10 years to be able to accomplish all 64 projects and programs,” Rhew says, betting on Team SouthPark. SP
See more renderings and details about the vision plan here.
Rendering courtesy SouthPark Community Partners
