The City of Gainesville’s Wild Spaces & Public Places Department in conjunction with the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department is pleased to announce that construction will begin in April on Reserve Park—a new neighborhood park located at 700 NE 11 St. Completion is anticipated in the fall of 2019.

Your new neighborhood park Reserve Park will be a City of Gainesville park honoring service members from all branches of the military and their families. The military-themed park design will include features for everyone. Some of the park amenities will include modern play equipment for both ages 2-5 and 5-12, traveling rings , a boot camp-themed obstacle course with 13 fitness stations, a pavilion, benches, picnic tables, grills, a walking path, open green space, a fenced community garden, and landscaping with extensive tree and shrub plantings. 

Why here? The history Unused since ’09, the Gainesville army property will have new purpose In 1950, the property at 700 NE 11 St. was transferred from the City of Gainesville to the US Army and the Army Reserve Training Center was built. Training operations took place there until the center was vacated in 2009 and given back to the City in 2011. In 2016, Phalanx Defense Systems moved into the former Army Reserve Training Center on the northwestern portion of the site. Stakeholder discussions on how to best utilize the larger remaining portion of the site have been underway since 2012—which marks the beginning of the neighborhood Reserve Park project.  

YOU made it happen! Neighborhood engagement Since 2012, public meetings and workshops, online surveys, social media and other forms of public engagement have been part of the planning process used to determine the amenities which would best fit the Reserve Park neighborhood. Conceptual designs were completed in early 2018 and construction documents and permitting began shortly thereafter. Four bids were submitted on Jan. 7, 2019 and Anglin Construction Company, a small, local business, was awarded the $835,400 contract for the park’s construction. The final plan set may be viewed by clicking here . The Friends of Reserve Park neighborhood group can be reached via email at danielgetsthis@gmail.com . 

Wild Spaces & Public Places Your half-cent sales tax at work This project is being funded with the Wild Spaces & Public Places half-cent sales tax. Collected from January 2017 to December 2024, the sales tax will continue to create, improve and maintain parks and recreational facilities and acquire and improve environmentally-sensitive lands. To sign up for updates, please visit www.WildSpacesPublicPlacesGNV.org . 

Questions? Contact Betsy Waite, Director of Wild Spaces & Public Places at 352-393-8187 or WildSpacesPublicPlaces@cityofgainesville.org

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