center city park
Center City Park Construction
Land acquisition for Center City Park began in 2002. Demolition of existing buildings and site preparation took place in 2003.
In March 2003, Project for Public Spaces conducted a public educational presentation in Greensboro to introduce concepts associated with successful urban parks. For the remainder of 2003, Downtown Greensboro, Inc. and the Center City Park Committee facilitated 45 community workshops to show park elements and determine which park features and activities citizens preferred. The park, in an interim design, opened in November 2003, permitting citizens to begin using the space and imagining what features they most wanted in the permanent installation.
In March 2004, the Center City Park Committee issued a nationwide request for proposals from top park designers. From 29 landscape architecture firms responding, the Halvorson Design Partnership, Inc. of Boston was selected.
Local design firm J. Hyatt Hammond Associates assisted with on-site supervision, and Rentenbach Constructors, Inc. served as general contractor. Don Euser Waterarchitecture, Inc. of Ontario was selected to design the fountain. ETM Associates, LLC assisted in developing strategies for operating and managing the park, a public/private partnership of the City of Greensboro, Action Greensboro, and other private-sector park supporters.
Center City Park cost more than $12 million to build, with land acquisition accounting for $6 million and design and construction adding $5.5 million. The park property is currently owned by the real estate divisions of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation.
Construction
Construction of the permanent park began in mid-summer of 2005 and lasted 16 months. >> |
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<< By December 12 the hardy crew from Freeport Fountains had begun laying out pipes for the fountain. |
| We found several buried petroleum tanks that none of us wanted, so Engineering Consulting Services, Inc. helped dispose of them. >> |  |
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<< It rained regularly. Sometimes it sleeted, and sometimes it snowed. The result was always the same. |
| But by March we had a successful test of the fountain spigots! >> |  |
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<< Weather permitting, the site was as busy as an ant farm. |
| By April the waterproofing contractor was sandblasting the fountain concrete. Waterproofing work depends on temperature and sunlight, which affect its primer and final coat. If the concrete walls got wet, work had to stop until they got dry. Because of persistent rain in May, a tent was installed over part of the fountain to keep it dry. >> |  |
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<< Granite began arriving on May 31, much to our delight. Permanently setting granite requires setting two dowels into the granite segment, drilling receiving holes in the concrete fountain wall, then testing the fit before permanently setting the segments in a mortar bed. |
| Just our luck--June of 2006 was the wettest June on record in Greensboro. There were also many “wet days”—days when it was not technically raining but was too wet to work! >> |  |
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<< July wasn’t any picnic either. |
| But by August bricks and concrete pavers were arriving. >> |  |
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<< And in September, TREES! |
| Pergolas... >> |  |
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<< Artwork... |
| More trees... >> |  |
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<< And the final puzzle piece, Bermuda grass. |
