Tampa, Florida -- We've learned twelve new parks are coming to Downtown Tampa.
This is big news for anyone who loves getting outside, and another move that makes living here even better.
Last month, we told you about the Selmon Greenway, a new walking and biking trail opening under the Selmon Expressway. Now, we're getting the first look at a dozen parks that will be going in all along that trail.
Right now, most of the spots are essentially empty spaces below or next to the Selmon Expressway -- and now they're set to become a chain of beautiful parks.
One is a pretty pitiful patch of grass sitting under the Selmon, a couple of blocks north of Amalie Arena. It's right at the edge of Jeff Vinik's huge downtown development.
If Vinik and the Tampa Bay Lightning want to work with them, the park's planners will make it over as an awesome Lightning-themed gathering place.
That's one of several spots on the new Selmon Greenway walk and bike trail that are about to see big changes.
A concept drawing of what could come to that spot, at Brorein St. and Jefferson St., shows a plaza with pavers, a shaded pergola, benches, bike racks, public art.
The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority owns the Selmon Expressway and is creating the Selmon Greenway beneath it. The agency is envisioning a range of relaxing ideas for some of the dusty corners and forgotten spots under the highway.
A learning garden near Ybor City, a dog park near the Channel District, an overlook by the water, and great spots where you can sit for lunch or just take a break -- are all potential concepts for the twelve park spaces.
"We want to see people use it and enjoy it and get out into the city, not just drive through the city," Bob Frey told me. He's the head planner for the expressway authority.
Frey and the other people planning these places call them "pocket parks," since they'll be smaller, to fit into the urban world -- and won't have big-ticket stuff like playgrounds or ball fields.
"The City of Tampa has those, and that's great," Frey told me. "But there's also a place for smaller, more personal types of spots, where people can come together and meet in an urban environment."
These ideas -- the dog park, the scenic overlook -- that appear on the expressway authority's master plan for the project right now are all just concepts until the expressway authority gets official proposals for each park.
That process will start this summer. The parks are not ready yet, but the Selmon Greenway is. The trail built for people on foot or on their bikes is open and connects a path from the Tampa Riverwalk all the way into Ybor City.
