When complete, Town Branch Park will feature an amphitheater, children’s play spaces, dog park, interactive water features, and walking paths.
After years of careful planning and successful fundraising, the $39 million Town Branch Park officially commenced construction in downtown Lexington in August. To meet the ambitious target of completing this transformative project by its scheduled deadline in the fall of 2025, a coordinated effort to install infrastructure, landscaping, and hardscaping at precisely the right times is crucial, according to officials from Dean Builds, the commercial and industrial construction company selected to execute the park’s design.
Dean Builds is working in partnership with international design firm Sasaki and construction partner Elaine Allen, as well as other contractors, the Town Branch Park nonprofit organization, and multiple government and civic groups, to create the new public space in downtown Lexington.
Dean Builds has started laying the groundwork for the park, located just northwest of the recently renovated Central Bank Center. The project, bounded by Oliver Lewis Way, Main, and High Streets, will transform acres of asphalt into a greenspace bordered by Town Branch Creek. The finished park will feature an amphitheater, children’s play spaces, a dog park, interactive water features, and plenty of walking paths.
Founded by David Dean in 2010, Dean Builds has worked on projects for local institutions like Midway University, Sayre School, and the University of Kentucky, as well as national organizations such as HomeGoods, Ulta, Roses, and Staples. The company has been involved in the Town Branch Park project since 2018 when it was tasked with creating an estimated budget and a conceptual design. With the construction phase now officially underway, the initial step is to establish the park’s infrastructure, including stormwater and sanitary utilities, building retaining walls, and beginning to shape the landscape.
Founder of Dean Build, David Dean, left, and the company’s director of business development, Blanton Coates.
“We’re importing nearly 15 feet of fill material to the amphitheater area,” Dean said. “If you were to visit now, you’d see numerous trucks delivering materials.” More than 26,000 cubic yards of fill dirt will be transported to the site, said Blanton Coates, director of business development at Dean Builds. Once that is complete, installing the hardscaping can begin.
“Once that foundation and utilities are laid in, then you start seeing the hardscape materials for the buildings that will be in place,” Coates said. “In addition to that, there are the foundation pieces for different pods of the areas of the park, like the dog park, the playground area, which has one active playground area and a water play area, and then you have all the hardscape pathways that run throughout the park.” Installing those elements will take from spring to fall of 2024, they said, to take advantage of more temperate weather.
Upon completing these foundational elements, the next step is landscaping. “You can only plant trees and bushes two times a year,” Dean said. “You’ve got to hit those planting seasons, which are usually spring and late fall. If you miss them, you have got to wait.” Instead of just putting plants into fill dirt, the park will be filled with a special blend of soil and substrates that will provide optimal conditions for the landscaping to thrive. Stone material to ensure proper drainage is installed first, then clay, then a soil mix.
“Almost the whole area is covered in engineered topsoil,” Dean said. “And that’s probably different than most parks that you’ll see. We’re pre-mixing it to a special mix… that’s going to help stabilize the grass in the field, so that it gives the grass and the plants some hardiness to where they’ll grow back and rebound after you have a big concert or after you have a big event.”
In addition, the project will see the renovation and rehabilitation of Town Branch Creek, surfacing the waterway from a hidden creek bed to an above-ground stream. That element will add a draw to the park and downtown that could be a major economic boost to the city, Dean said. Cities like Greenville, South Carolina, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Austin, Texas, have all seen economic rebounds after focusing on greenways and water elements in their downtown areas.
“I think if you look at anything that the private citizens or government spend on parks, there’s like a tenfold give back,” he said. “Look at Austin. The whole emphasis of that city is around that nice park area and trails and all the activities that go on near the water.” Austin was ranked one of the fastest-growing cities in the country in 2022 by Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and has seen an economic boom as it has developed a reputation as a tech hub. Greenville, in recent years, has been noted as a vacation and retirement spot since renovating its shorefront along the Reedy River. Town Branch Park is expected to be both an attractive public resource in the middle of the city and an economic driver.
“This park is bringing in music acts and activities around the amphitheater,” Dean said. “There are revenue opportunities within this park that will bring people to the city.”