Asheville, North Carolina : Area info

Overview > Pack Square Park

Pack Square Park

For more than a century, Pack Square Park has been a dream of citizens and city planning agencies. Finally, in 1999, the Pack Square Park Renaissance task force was formed. Bringing in a new era of lush green space, water features, architecture, roadways, pedestrian walkways, and venue space, Pack Square Park is slated for completion in August of 2009.

Pack Square and its surrounding area, stretching down to the courthouse and city building, has always been the main gathering area for people in downtown Asheville. During times of war, it has been an area to see soldiers off as well as welcome them home. It has been the site of 29 years of Bele Chere Festival, countless years of Shindig on the Green, Friday After Five and so many more outdoor activities.

Planning & History

A new park for a new century, the current plans are a close second to the vision that George Pack made over 100 years ago. The beginning of the reformation of downtown Asheville came in the form of a call to action in 1999: a leak in the fountain at Pack Square was creating an underground erosion problem, which could eventually lead to problems for roadways. After the Pack Square Park Renaissance task force was created, Urban Design Associates and LaQuatra Bonci Associates were commissioned to create drawings as proof-of-concept artwork as well as a survey and impact assessment of the area. Late in 2000, Pack Square Conservancy is organized to provide fund raising, planning, design, construction, and an endowment for the Park's future preservation.

In 2004, public input is mixed with professional plans for the site. By March of 2004, the landscape architecture has been completed. It is determined that there will be a required total of $12.5 million in funds needed to create the Park as well as an endowment for its future. In 2005, after a unanimous approval of Fred Bonci's design development drawings, the estimate for the park is raised to a total of $14.5 million, after which Congress approves a $4 million grant. Officially, the groundbreaking event for the beginning of construction on the Park was on August 18, 2005. Construction began on September 22, 2005. By the end of the fiscal year 2005, the Pack Square Conservancy had raised $9.6 million for the park (aside from the $4 million federal grant).

From 2006 to 2007, construction costs nationwide are skyrocketing. This leads the conservancy to re-estimate the amount of funds required to complete Park construction so that it can adequately raise money to see the project through to finish. The estimate provided by a new independent estimator has risen the total to $20.5 million.

In August 2007, crews have completed the infrastructure as well as the goal of laying more than 10,000 bricks over almost seven acres of downtown land. During and after this time, Overland Partners, a sustainable design team, designs a 4,200 sq.ft. building as a pavilion to be built out of granite and glass. Fisher Architects will go on to work with Beverly-Grant contractors to work on the building. By the end of 2007, the Park Conservancy has raised over $16 million.

Current Phase

The main areas left in the construction phases so far are the Roger McGuire Green and Pack Square (home to Pack Place) itself. The City says that construction on the Green should begin by July 15, 2008 while the work in Pack Square will begin by August 18, 2008. Being slated for a 14-month deadline for completion, Pack Square Park should be finished by August, 2009.