Kai Meyer enjoys the monkey bars at Cabra Park in Corpus Christi. The park is one of 14 that the city has sold. Photo by Third Coast Photo
The Corpus Christi City Council recently chose a firm to sell 14 parks approved for disposal by voters in November 2014. The city has 207 parks, several of which were adopted and taken off the original list of 17 parks listed for sale in Proposition 3.
While some of the park land is not fully developed, parks like Mount Vernon and Cabra have paved trails, playgrounds and benches used by residents in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Clower Co. will handle the real estate listings. The city expects buyers to be residential developers looking for prime locations such as Mount Vernon, which is near La Palmera Mall. The parks would have to be rezoned for commercial development, a process that involves public hearings and input.
When the city council began work on a parks master plan two years ago, 27 parks were on the original list for possible decommissioning. Since then, 10 have been adopted by organizations or neighborhood groups, said parks and recreation director Mike Morris.
“[The study showed] we have more parks than we need,” Morris said. “We have more parks per capita than most cities in Texas. We have parks across the street from parks.”
Corpus Christi recently ranked high among the nation’s 60 largest cities for its proliferation of parks. The Trust for Public Land lauded Corpus Christi for its number of playgrounds per residents and percentage of population living within a 10-minute walk from a park. Losing the just over 30 total acres involved will not affect that ranking, Morris said.
The city has more than 2,000 acres of parkland, not including beaches.
Parks listed for sale are:
• Violet Park, 4301 Violet (1.55 acres)
• Willow Park, 11418 Willowood Creek (0.93 acres)
• Cabra Park, 1323 W. Broadway (1.36 acres)
• Fountain Park, 4938 Moody (1.62 acres)
• Acushnet Park, 6746 Aaron (9.96 acres)
• Congress Park, 4017 Capitol (1.96 acres)
• Creekway Park, 7306 Prairie (0.89 acres)
• Durant Park, 6113 Durant (2.70 acres)
• Mount Vernon Park, 5151 McArdle (7.25 acres)
• Peary Park, 1750 Paul Jones at Decatur (1 acre)
• Penn Place Park, 4302 Aaron (1.67 acres)
• Ridgewood Park, 5730 Malden (5.04 acres)
