Work starting this month on Barron's Branch transformation

A $167 million transformation of the blocks around Barron's Branch at the Brazos River is getting underway, after years of discussion, planning and design. A little more than two years of construction will bring a new city park centered around a re-created Barron's Branch Creek, water-play areas and cascades over limestone escarpments, a performance pavilion and an open event deck. La Pila pedestrian plaza will run from Third Street in front of St. Francis on the Brazos Catholic Church to a restored fountain near University Parks Drive and Jefferson Avenue that once served as a hub of the historic neighborhood. A Calle Dos walkthrough will extend from Washington Avenue across from the Waco Convention Center to Jefferson Avenue, with a pedestrian bridge crossing Barron's Branch Creek. The Waco City Council last week signed off on a $183.3 million master development agreement with Hunt Development Group, with includes upcoming construction and related costs, along with $14.4 million in previously approved design, planning and other predevelopment work. A groundbreaking ceremony for the Barron's Branch project, imagined as the first phase of a broader downtown redevelopment, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 24 at the corner of University Parks and Jefferson Avenue. Before work starts on the park itself, totaling $72.2 million, some $71.6 million in drainage, utility and street infrastructure work will get underway, some as soon as this month. "We picked Barron's Branch District, an area bounded by Jefferson and Washington Avenues, Fourth Street and the Brazos River, to start because the utilities there, the water, the wastewater and the drainage, that has to be done regardless," Tom Balk, Waco's strategic initiatives director, has said previously. University Parks, Fourth Street and Jefferson Avenue will be reconstructed, and Third Street will be extended from Jefferson, where it now ends, to Washington Avenue. All underground utilities, some installed 70 to 80 years ago, including water, wastewater, private utilities and drainage infrastructure, will be replaced, Balk said by email last week. A roundabout will be installed at the intersection of Jefferson and University Parks, and the streets also will see new sidewalks, landscaping with irrigation systems, lighting and signs, Balk said. Barron's Branch now flows into the Brazos through an underground tunnel, and a second tunnel will be added, along with the naturalistic above-ground water feature highlighting the new park. The added drainage infrastructure will reduce the size of a flood plain in the area, opening up city-owned land around the park space for commercial development, and the city is in talks with three development groups proposing apartments, offices, retail spaces and restaurants. Hunt, the city's master developer, earlier this summer picked Waco-based general contractor Rogers-O'Brien Construction Co., with the city's approval, to carry out the work outlined in the master development agreement. Cash Construction Co., of Pflugerville, and Jay-Reese Contractors, of Dripping Springs, were the other two bidders considered for the work. Walker Partners and Cumming Group will provide $5.8 million in construction administration services, and Langerman Engineering will provide $1.3 million in materials testing services, each included under Hunt's master development agreement. The city will pay for the construction and associated services through short-term bonds taken out as work progresses, similar to construction bridge loans. Once work is complete, the short-term bonds will be repackaged into a traditional long-term bonds. The approach is expected to save $30 million in debt costs compared to borrowing the full amount upfront, Waco CFO Blu Kostelich told the city council this spring. The city's water, drainage and wastewater utilities, backed by user fees, will back those portions of the infrastructure bonds, requiring an average increase of about 67 cents in customers' monthly utility bills, Balk told the city council last week. The park, street and sidewalk bonds will be backed by property taxes already in place. The city council last week also approved a new application for $15 million through the National Park Service's Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant program. Grant awards will be announced in May, and the city must have enough park work remaining at that time to meet the grant's 1:1 local match requirement. Outside the scope of Hunt's master development agreement but related to the Barron's Branch project, the city also will bury an overhead powerline that crosses the Brazos river near Jefferson Avenue. The city council last week approved a $4 million service agreement with Oncor Electric Delivery Co. to bore under the river for the line. The city also will contract with a private utility to secure a spare conduit under the river and to replace its fiber internet infrastructure through Barron's Branch, Balk said.