The article also talked about chances to do public-private partnerships (including an early conversation ongoing with the Marbles Kids Museum), as well as longer-term opportunities like setting up a food hall. This would also bring in tenants and sponsors, adding more revenue for the park. So the bond wouldn’t be the only source of money to make the Dix expansion happen, but it would be its catalyst, a down payment of sorts.
One important caveat: it sounds like the Conservancy and City are treating improvements for Lake Wheeler Rd. as separate but complementary to the sidewalk and multimodal path in the Plaza and Play concept. To be clear, this implies that road/sidewalk improvements will be coordinated with Dix Park upgrades, but will be worked on as a separate project.
As in Ted’s post, though, this bond would not be just for Dix Park. It’s also expected to fund upgrades in other parks like Chavis Park, so it could account for more than that $73M if the city decides to go for it.
Of course, this all assumes the 2021 municipal elections goes as planned, to begin with. And like we discussed in the city elections thread, census delays are putting that into jeopardy.