“Southern Dallas deck park gets name, first trees in Earth Day celebration”
The event marked the official renaming of Halperin Park, once called Southern Gateway Park.
Above Interstate 35E in southern Dallas and across from the Dallas Zoo’s iconic giraffe sculpture, public leaders celebrated renaming Oak Cliff’s new deck park and helped plant the first trees on Earth Day.
The event marked the official renaming of what was once called Southern Gateway Park. It is now Halperin Park, following a $23 million contribution from the Halperin Foundation for the naming rights.
As a crew hammered and sawed at the park, and the Reveler’s Hall Band played, elected officials and city Park Board members got a peek at the growing construction project.
The park was “putting down roots” Tuesday, both in the figurative and literal sense, said April Allen, president of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation. Allen, along with Mayor Eric Johnson and members of the Halperin family, shoveled dirt on the first of the trees at the site.
“This moment is about more than trees and green space,” Allen said. “It’s about growth, resilience and the enduring spirit of our community.”
Slated to open in spring 2026, the park is expected to come with more than 250 trees, along with a stageand pavilion for concerts, a playground and an interactive water feature, among other amenities. The park,situated between South Ewing and South Marsalis avenues, is expected to attract more than 2 millionvisitors annually.
When Interstate 35E was built, it sliced through the heart of Oak Cliff, disconnecting communities fromdowntown Dallas and bulldozing homes belonging to people of color. The new park is seen as a bridgebetween neighborhoods for Oak Cliff, and its impact will also likely be felt at the Tenth Street HistoricDistrict, one of the only remaining intact Freedmen’s Towns in the nation.
Johnson said Tuesday that within just a year, the space had been built up, becoming more than concreteabove the freeway, where he could see “a modern park beginning to take shape with the outlines offountains, buildings and new gathering spaces all coming into view.”
“This park is bridging the gap between a community that was actually divided when this interstate wasbuilt, and bringing southern Dallas the much-deserved beauty and utility and opportunity that a modernpark with so much forethought … can bring to a city,” Johnson said.
Halperin is the second deck park — after Klyde Warren Park — to be added to the city’s vision ofexpanding its park system.
In September, the Dallas Park Board greenlit the Halperin Foundation’s donation, one of the largestinvestments in the southern Dallas park. The Halperins are known for their philanthropy work andHeritage Auctions. Allen said they have “played a transformational role in bringing this vision to life.”
“They understand and share our goals through this park, that it will catalyze a more connected,economically vibrant and greener Oak Cliff,” Allen said.
Dave Halperin said his family was drawn to the project because it met the family’s values, connectingneighborhoods, creating vibrant public space and providing opportunities for “growth and togetherness.”
“That’s exactly the kind of project that we want to be a part of,” Halperin said. “We believe public spaceslike this are investments in our collective well-being. Parks bring people together. They strengthenneighborhoods. They make cities more livable and enjoyable.”
As Allen toured the pavilion area in a hard hat, she said this design was different, something “uniquelyOak Cliff.” Tuesday marked a milestone.
“When I started almost five years ago, it felt like a steep hill to climb, and now we’re kind of here,” Allensaid. She told the crowd gathered for the naming that the day was about building something together.
“What we plant today isn’t just for us,” Allen said. “It’s for the generations to come. Each seed is a quiet actof faith, a whisper to the next generation that says we were thinking of you.”