Here’s a sad little song for you — the Alliance Children’s Garden, a high-concept playground project on more than two acres at Butler Metro Park that broke ground early last year, is finished. It’s actually been done for six months, but if you’ve got a pulse you know how we’ve spent those last six months and more — so, in keeping with the city’s pandemic-related social distancing guidelines, the shiny new playground’s construction fences remain standing to deflect any curious kids, depressing as that is.
But after all these months, don’t you want to see what’s inside? It’s not like you can’t go down there and look through the fence, but it’s not quite the same — and though we’re personally huge fans of trespassing, in the spirit of the collective effort to eradicate the coronavirus plus the whole legality issue we think it’s best to stay outside the fence. Still, it’s fine to stick a camera through the fence, so we did:
It’s a start, but these three photos don’t give us a very good impression of the space. The project’s landscape architects at local firm TBG Partners conducted a virtual tour of the space late last month, but that doesn’t do us any good now — except it turns out a few other people have posted sneak peeks from inside the park over the summer. We’ve scoured social media for as many photos and videos as we can find from inside the playground — consider this your virtual tour of the Alliance Children’s Garden, a long-awaited space keeping us waiting just a little longer. First, here’s a video from an enterprising fella who flew his drone over the fence to give us a look:
Next up is a slideshow of images from inside the park by construction firm SpawGlass, which worked on the project — this one gives us a closer look at some of the park’s finer details, including those giant ants we saw earlier:
Our last video arrives from local concrete firm Sundek and its sales manager Scott Hubbard, providing a more technical look at the project’s decorative concrete elements including a climbing wall and “cheese wall” full of kid-sized holes:
Once you’ve caught up on these videos, compare what you’ve seen to the drawings of the proposed playground we saw back in 2018 — it appears the finished product actually does these concept renderings justice, with elements like the cheese wall, giant ants, and climbing structure losing surprisingly little in translation:
We’re fans of any downtown-adjacent project acknowledging the urban lives of kids in its design — we just hope the playground opens soon enough that the young people currently enduring this pandemic’s uniquely damaging social effects can enjoy it. No matter how long it takes, the Parks and Recreation Department explains the park is designed for “multigenerational play” providing recreation for all ages — all the more reason to get through this virus and bring those fences down for good.
Homes for sale in 78704
-
$595,000
1900 Barton Springs RD #3034
Austin, TX -
$1,595,000
1609 Alta Vista Ave
Austin, TX -
$575,000
4025 Valley View RD #2
Austin, TX -
$379,000
1304 Mariposa DR #156
Austin, TX -
$1,750,000
705 W Mary A&B ST
Austin, TX -
$499,000
210 Lee Barton DR #321
Austin, TX -
$349,000
3809 Menchaca RD #B
Austin, TX -
$999,000
2009 S 3rd ST #2
Austin, TX -
$3,750,000
2009 S 3rd ST #1
Austin, TX -
$1,250,000
2821 Kinney Oaks CT
Austin, TX -
$350,000
4004 Banister #106 LN
Austin, TX -
$1,800,000
705 W Mary ST
Austin, TX -
$1,900,000
1700 Graywood CV
Austin, TX -
$1,150,000
2323 S Lamar BLVD #105
Austin, TX -
$380,000
2215 Post RD #1070
Austin, TX -
$1,585,000
2007 S 5th ST #A
Austin, TX -
$950,000
1606 Grayford DR #1
Austin, TX -
$1,250,000
3001 Del Curto RD #26
Austin, TX -
$1,410,000
118 Lightsey RD
Austin, TX -
$679,900
2804 S 1st ST #2107
Austin, TX -
$625,000
2725 Dulce LN #223
Austin, TX -
$850,000
3905 Clawson RD #3
Austin, TX -
$375,000
2215 Post RD #1056
Austin, TX -
$1,200,000
1600 S 1st ST #403
Austin, TX -
$4,750,000
2009 S 3rd ST
Austin, TX
-
Lot Size40 sqft
Home Size839 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,839 sqft
Home Size2,743 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
-
Lot Size5,228 sqft
Home Size1,100 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,150 sqft
Home Size978 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1.5 Baths
-
Lot Size7,972 sqft
Home Size2,271 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size349 sqft
Home Size862 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size2,571 sqft
Home Size1,008 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1.5 Baths
-
Lot Size11,892 sqft
Home Size1,100 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size11,905 sqft
Home Size3,294 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
-
Lot Size3,747 sqft
Home Size2,446 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size41,862 sqft
Home Size870 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size7,972 sqft
Home Size1,980 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size11,304 sqft
Home Size3,525 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
-
Lot Size42,907 sqft
Home Size1,428 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size2,440 sqft
Home Size977 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1.5 Baths
-
Lot Size5,881 sqft
Home Size2,069 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size4,021 sqft
Home Size2,153 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size5,668 sqft
Home Size2,501 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size5,620 sqft
Home Size2,647 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
-
Lot Size2,165 sqft
Home Size1,786 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size3,115 sqft
Home Size1,344 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot SizeN/A
Home Size2,008 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size2,309 sqft
Home Size928 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size802 sqft
Home Size1,156 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size11,892 sqft
Home Size4,394 sqft
Beds6 Beds
Baths5.5 Baths
Leave a Reply