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
Three more parks are being sold in the city of Corpus Christi, a move that should bring in about $370,000 to the Parks and Recreation Department. With a $10 million shortfall, it might look like selling parks is a desperate move to bring in more funds. These parks have been on the chopping block since 2016, however, two years after voters approved a City Council request to sell a total of 17 parks. After this sale, only three more parks will be left on that original list.
The council voted March 27 to sell the parks to private entities. Sales will become final after the second reading at a future meeting. To be sold are:
• Congress Park at 4017 Capitol Drive, $180,000;
• Creekway Park, 7306 Prairie Drive, $75,000;
• Violet Park, 4301 Violet Road in Annaville, $115,000.
Congress and Creekway parks are both being sold to Southern Builder Co. LLC. Violet Park has been sold to Janet L. and Isaac Camacho of Camacho Demolition and Environmental. Any zoning changes for land use won’t be considered until after the sale. None of the sales were contingent upon future plans for use of the property.
Of the 17 parks on the list to sell, seven were adopted by community members or transferred to another department to maintain. The city has more than 1,900 acres of park land in its 150 parks. More parks could be up for sale when the City Council adopts a new master plan, although voters would have to approve those sales as well.
La Palmera paid $1.7 million for Mount Vernon Park in June 2016. As part of the transaction, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center was given the property it leased at the park for its headquarters.
Other previously sold parks include:
• Acushnet Park, 9.96 acres at 6746 Aaron Drive, MVR Construction Co., $655,000;
• Cabra Park, 1.36 acres at 1323 W. Broadway St., Darla-1 Ltd., $24,000
• Durant Park, 2.70 acres at 6113 Durant Drive, MVR Construction Co., $130,000
• Parklane Park, 1.95 acres at Arlene and Mount Vernon drives, Albert Ayala and Roberto Cardenas, $121,000
• Peary Park, 1 acre at 1750 Paul Jones Ave., 4625 No. 3 Ltd., Texas limited partnership, $36,000
• Willow Park, 0.93 acre at 11418 Willowood Creek Drive, Gaby and Martin Sada, $50,000
A parks and recreation director told Corpus Christi Business News in 2015, when the first parks were about to be listed for sale, that the city has more parks than it needed.
“We have more parks per capita than most cities in Texas,” Mike Morris said. “We have parks across the street from parks.”
The parks to be sold are all “underutilized,” according to the City Council, although several have playground equipment and benches.
