A master plan for a revitalized Metropolitan Park continues to take shape as the City of Jacksonville asked once more for public input on the park at an open house last month.
Residents were able to review more refined conceptual design concepts for the park at the open house, held at the main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library on Thursday, Sept. 11.
City of Jacksonville Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services Darryl Joseph said the next steps after this meeting will revolve around finalizing the design.
“This is more coming up with the overall master plan, and once we finish the master plan concept, then we’ll actually start the construction plans,” Joseph said.
Joseph said construction dollars for this project are scheduled for Fall 2026, and he anticipates groundbreaking to take place soon after the bid process is complete.
Following public input from an open house and online survey held last June, the design team moved forward with the Weave Concept – one of three designs presented at last year’s open house, with some elements brought in from the other concepts as well and some elements carrying over from the existing park.
“There’s still the concept of the giant lawn in the middle, which the original Met Park had, which everyone loved, and that’s where the bandshell was. That’ll continue to be the place where you can see concerts and so forth,” said Rob Zinn, co-founder and vice president of ZINN Architecture and Interiors, one of the firms on the Metropolitan Park Revitalization design team.
The updated design concept features a tailgate plaza space that Zinn said was influenced by one of the other two concepts from last year’s open house.
“It does have a pavilion on the end there that will be like a covered area for bands,” Zinn said. “We’re thinking of that area as like a gathering place that is another place to have a concert. I think that came from one of the other concepts.”
San Jose resident Sandy Arpin said she was impressed with the design presented at the open house.
“I’m very, very impressed that they have so much foliage, that they’re really saving the trees that are there and adding so much more in terms of trees, and that there’s going to be shade,” Arpin said. “I’m glad there’s going to be another performance area because I really miss going to the concerts.”
More information about the Metropolitan Park Revitalization Project can be found at https://revitalizingmetropolitanpark.com.
