Thomas Balsley Associates was selected from an outreach to national and international design firms to design a new park for the Dallas Central District –the first of three called for in its open space master plan as a part of the revitalization strategy. A key component in the downtown revitalization strategy, Main Street Garden Park required the razing of an entire city block of buildings and garages making way for its transformation into a vibrant public space teeming with civic life. This two-acre park is intended to foster downtown residential and commercial growth and is being designed to accommodate the needs of residents in adjacent high-rise residential buildings, university students and faculty, office workers and Main Street shoppers. The design of the park acknowledges the adjacent architecturally significant buildings located within the vicinity such as the Beaux Arts City Hall and Mercantile Bank Building yet strikes a dramatic 21st century design profile at this key location in Dallas’s emerging new urban core. The park includes an open lawn and performance space, a public art installation of light, a green roof civic canopy, seating areas, tot lot, central plaza, a unique urban stream sculptural water feature, a striated garden, an urban dog run, illuminated glass study-room shelters, shade structures and lush plantings throughout. Artful light installations animate the garden room shelters and enhance the Main Street corridor edge throughout the evening. This variety of spaces, ranging from large open lawn and cafe terraces to fountain plazas and garden rooms also host neighbourhood and civic events that bring life and vitality to downtown Dallas (Thomas Balsley Associates).