Event Recap: Pickwell Park Ribbon Cutting

Families in San Antonio’s District 3 have a renewed neighborhood park, and WGI is proud to have designed it.

The City of San Antonio recently celebrated the completion of the Pickwell Park improvement project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Homer Garcia III, Director of San Antonio Parks and Recreation; Crystal Gonzales, Assistant Director of the City’s Capital Delivery Department; and District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran cut the ribbon, with WGI's Darcy Nuffer, PLA, ASLA, LEED AP, Studio Manager and Adrian Garcia, PE, PMP, Project Manager II representing our team.

Funded through the City’s 2022–2027 Bond Program and other sources, the approximately $1.5 million project adds an expanded inclusive playground with safety surfacing, a shade structure over the play area, new basketball and pickleball courts, improved trails, new and upgraded lighting, shaded picnic areas, parking and concrete flatwork improvements, and new trees with irrigation.

Designed Around What Neighbors Asked For

Community input shaped the project from the start. Residents named shade, accessibility, and lighting as top priorities, and the final design answers each one.

Shade got particular attention. Playground equipment in San Antonio can get too hot to touch in summer, so the new structure over the play area keeps it usable through more of the year. The expanded playground includes equipment for children of different abilities, and new lighting along the trails gives residents a safer place to walk after dark.

In local news coverage of the opening, Councilwoman Viagran pointed to those resident priorities and stressed how much it means for the neighborhood to have a safe, well-lit, comfortable place to spend time outdoors.

Landscape and Civil, Delivered as One Park

WGI provided the primary landscape architecture and civil engineering services for Pickwell Park, leading project management, landscape design, and civil design and construction administration.

Our Landscape Architecture team handled park design, playground expansion, inclusive equipment and safety surfacing, shade and picnic area planning, and tree planting and irrigation design. Our San Antonio Civil team delivered civil site design, grading, drainage, and site infrastructure, along with parking, flatwork, and trail connectivity improvements.

Working side by side from the first concepts, the two teams kept grading, planting, lighting, and paths in step with each other. A separate consultant prepared the detailed basketball and pickleball court design, and we coordinated our landscape and civil work with the courts so the finished park comes together as one cohesive layout.

Our involvement continued into construction. WGI provided construction administration and responded to design and coordination questions as the improvements were built.

The project relied on close work with the City of San Antonio, the court design consultant, the contractor, and other partners.

More Reasons to Visit, All Year Long

Pickwell Park now gives residents plenty of ways to spend an afternoon. Neighbors can shoot hoops, play pickleball, walk lit trails in the evening, or picnic in the shade, and kids of all abilities have a playground that stays comfortable well into the summer.

Pickwell Park shows what WGI’s integrated landscape architecture and civil engineering teams bring to public spaces, from design through construction. Contact our team to talk about your next park or community project.