Great news is growing along the Trinity River. Trinity Park Conservancy has announced an $11.1 million gift from Lyda Hill Philanthropies for Harold Simmons Park, Dallas’s future 250-acre signature public green space — a joyful step that gives the park a clear path to opening at the end of 2028, Happy City News is delighted to report.
The progress is already visible on the ground. After breaking ground in 2025, the utilities and infrastructure for the park’s 22-acre West Overlook are nearly complete. For the overlook’s first phase of 12 acres, less than $50 million remains to be raised, with $200 million already secured toward the campaign goal and a grand opening scheduled for late 2028.
When it opens, Harold Simmons Park will invite millions of visitors a year to learn about local ecology, help care for the river’s water and wildlife, and gather with neighbors from every corner of Dallas. It will unlock the Trinity as a shared urban oasis, greenbelt and living laboratory — and it builds on a happy citywide trend: as of 2025, 81 percent of Dallas residents now live within a 10-minute walk of a high-quality park.
Lyda Hill Philanthropies has invested more than $45 million in Dallas parks since 2017, and Lyda Hill calls nature a powerful equalizer that gives kids a chance to explore and families a place to connect. Happy City News will keep cheering as this green dream rises beside the river — Dallas, your biggest new front yard is on its way.
Photo: Trinity Park Conservancy
