Construction contract awarded to update Bergfeld Park’s amphitheater

Published 5:21 pm Wednesday, December 14, 2016

One hundred years after the Tyler community came together to create Bergfeld Park, it is banding together again to fund renovations.

Bergfeld Park was donated to the city in 1909, but it didn’t begin to develop into a gathering space until a Kiwanis Club held a fundraiser in the Fair Park Auditorium, according to Smith County Historical Society archives. Reportedly 12,000 people attended the meeting.

Today, a group of dedicated volunteers, and a large corporate sponsor, are fundraising to update the historical park that has been a city jewel for more than a century.

The park was the host of the first Rose Festival in 1933, and its natural low-lying areas were purposefully flooded in 1934 to resemble the Grand Canal in Venice, according to historical records.

Then in 1935, the Sears and Roebuck Company built the amphitheater as a gift to the city, which housed the only department store to turn a profit that year.

On Wednesday, the Tyler City Council approved a construction contract to renovate the amphitheater inside the park. The construction contract for $987,000 was awarded to TCMC Commercial IP. The project will break ground in January and take 150 days to complete, according to the contract.

The work includes renovating the stage, seating area and correcting longstanding drainage issues. The schematic drawings were completed by Fitzpatrick Architects, and approved by local and state historical commissions, allowing the park and the stage to keep their historical markers.

The funding will come from a variety of places.

Namely, a donation of $325,000 from the Centene Charitable Foundation.

The city will use Centene’s donation, and could use another $100,000 in other private donations made for upgrades to the park. The parks department anticipates spending another $162,000 from its budget and the city’s tourism fund.

Another $400,000 also was approved to come from the half-cent sales tax fund to complete the project and cover any contingency funds.

The project is coming in higher than an original $750,000 estimate.

Part of that was because of the way the park’s electrical system was installed, said Stephanie Franklin, managing director of culture, recreation and tourism.

Another factor was an increasing price of concrete. Sidewalks near the restrooms will also have to be redone to ensure they are ADA compliant. The demolition was also higher than expected. Crews will be working in tight confines of the site, with delicate WPA- style walls and around an existing storm drain that runs below the seating area that large trucks have to avoid, she said.

COMMUNITY IMPACT

In 2013, a group of neighbors formed the Bergfeld Master Plan Committee. The group gathered community input and created an eight-phase master plan for the park. That included updating the playground equipment, updating the tennis courts, lighting, signage, landscaping and the amphitheater.

Since then the group has raised over $750,000 for renovations to the park, including funding half of the purchase and installation costs of new playground equipment, which opened to families in 2015. That project cost just over $400,000, and was completed through the half-cent sales tax fund and the private donations.

Twitter: @TMTFaith