As downtown booms, Austin looks to improve Republic Square Park

On a sunny weekday in Republic Square Park in downtown Austin, two people chat below a tall oak tree, a woman walks a dog, and a man in a suit rushes to a nearby office building.

It’s a quiet morning, but parks advocates say they expect green spaces like Republic Square to become more popular as downtown booms with new condo, hotel and retail projects.

The city of Austin is putting the finishing touches on a plan to improve Republic Square, which is at Guadalupe and West Fourth streets. The aim is to make the park more inviting for events such as the Saturday farmers market and a summer movie series, as well as for everyday use by visitors and downtown’s 9,800 residents and 126,000 employees.

The parks department has $1.2 million set aside to write and carry out the plan. Most of that money comes from development fees paid by the federal government during construction of a new federal courthouse just west of the square.

Though Republic Square is less than 2 acres, city officials and downtown business groups say it is a crucial part of Austin’s park system because it is one of the few patches of green in the urban core.

“Especially over the last five years, with the densification of downtown Austin, it has become an important front yard and backyard for people living and working downtown,Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet?” said Daniel Woodroffe, president of the Austin Parks Foundation board and owner of a landscape architecture firm.

The new federal courthouse, finished in December, has a plaza that opens onto Republic Square. Other big projects are planned for blocks nearby, including a new Travis County civil courthouse and a 24-story tower that will include luxury apartments and an upscale hotel.

The draft plan for Republic Square includes a large, open central space that is flexible enough to use for different events, a promenade and a plaza, concessions or an eatery, and restrooms.

“Downtown parks are highly coveted event spaces, but they are underutilized as daily public spaces,” said Melissa Barry, arts and parks director at the Downtown Austin Alliance, which represents downtown property owners.

The plan “has amenities that would create an environment where people want to stay and spend time in the park on a regular basis,” Barry said.

The city is paying Design Workshop, a national firm with offices in Austin, $150,000 to write the plan. The plan will go to the parks board Feb. 26 and then to the City Council for a vote.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. Parks officials hope to start constructing the changes in the fall of 2014.

Republic Square is deeply rooted in the city’s history. It was one of four squares — three remain — included in the layout of Austin designed by Edwin Waller in 1839. Back then, blocks of downtown land were auctioned off beneath the square’s giant oak trees, now called the Auction Oaks.

In recent years, the parks department has planted trees and installed an irrigation system at Wooldridge Square, at Guadalupe and Ninth streets.Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, At Brush Square, at Neches and Fifth streets, the city renovated a historical home and built a new courtyard with public art.

Republic Square has gone through several incarnations. In the 1870s, it was the heart of Austin’s Mexican-American community, which celebrated events such as Diez y Seis there. It was an industrial area and then a parking lot in the 1930s to the 1950s. The city turned it into a park in the 1970s to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial. But berms that sheltered the square from urban noise also closed off the space, discouraging visitors.

The nonprofit Austin Parks Foundation raised about $400,000 over the past few years and removed half of the berms, installed a lawn watering system and built a deck around the Auction Oaks to protect their roots and add seating.

The city’s plan calls for creating a large open area that could be used for performances and other events. Several paths would lead into it, and stone seating would surround it.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. On the square’s north side would be a gravel promenade with space for concessions and restrooms. There would be a plaza nearby for activities such as bocce ball and movable play equipment for kids or group gatherings,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made. said Marty Stump, a project management supervisor in the parks department.

The square could also become a transit hub, with stops planned for a rapid-bus line and possibly a future urban rail line.

“What is there now has a ‘leftover’ feeling to it; it was not designed for the intense use that park sees today,” Stump said. “We want to create a space that is simple but can accommodate a variety of uses. So there are open spaces, but also pockets for seating and intimate gatherings.”

Mitchell McGovern, president of the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, said the master plan is a good start, but he would also like to see better lighting and other safety features, a dedicated space for dogs, a children’s play area, public art and a performance area.

Ted Siff of the Original Austin Neighborhood Association, whose boundaries include Republic Square, said the city also needs to think more about how to pay to maintain the park in the long run.

The square “has the potential to be the heart of downtown, with activities that make people feel good, have fun and meet people,” Siff said. “The creation of a better space should be the first of a series of steps. Just as critical is how do you operate it?”