Frisco hires IDEO to design a vision for Grand Park

Frisco Enterprise
By Audrey Henvey | Star Local Media
April 4, 2023

Frisco’s vision for Grand Park is one step closer to reality following a city council vote. 

On Tuesday, April 4, the Frisco City Council voted to approve a $394,000 professional services agreement with global design company IDEO to design a vision for the Grand Park project. 

The vote came after a discussion about Grand Park during a Frisco City Council Work Session the afternoon of April 4.  

“We’re extremely excited about this,” Frisco Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Coates said during the work session. “Grand Park, we know, is an opportunity to create a really unique experience. It’s going to be one of the biggest parks in North Texas, and we love the idea that it goes right down the center of the city of Frisco.” 

According to a previous article in the Frisco Enterprise, the vision for Grand Park originally spanned roughly 300 acres and now comprises over 1,000; the land includes 7.8 miles of creek with a good amount of property in floodplain. The land also has ties to Iron Horse Trail.   

In 2006, Frisco voters approved $22.5 million in acquisition and initial development of Grand Park, according to a previous article in the Frisco Enterprise. Over time, the story of Grand Park evolved to include discussions of clean up at the site of a former battery recycling plant and negotiations with battery manufacturing company Exide Technologies. The negotiations, which reached a conclusion through a settlement in October 2020, punted hopes of beginning work on Grand Park for an extended stretch of time. A milestone was reached in November 2022 when the city opened “Big Bluestem Trail,” a small portion of Grand Park that is now open to the public.

During its Winter Work Session on Jan. 27, the Frisco City Council listed “Master planning of Grand Park” among its top 10 priorities for 2023.

On Feb. 3, 2023, the Frisco Enterprise reported that City of Frisco staff was gearing up to work with a consultant that will help guide the city through developing a vision and framework for the buildout of Grand Park. 

During the April 4 work session, Coates said a team of four had interviewed three firms: two traditional landscape architecture firms and IDEO.  

“We’re really excited about having them come in,” Coates said of IDEO. “They work very differently and at a much faster pace than a lot of the businesses that we typically bring in. Not because the other ones are bad, but because they just do things in a very different way. So we have selected them, we do believe it’s going to be a successful partnership, and they will give us a very unique and different look at what Grand Park can be.” 

According to Coates’ presentation, the company’s team includes experts in strategy, architecture, research, inclusive design, urban strategy and design, brand and communications and systems thinking. 

A presented timeline includes a “warming-up” period between April 5-30, with the goal of building awareness about the project with IDEO in the community, according to the presentation. Following the “warming-up” period will be an “intensive design sprint” that will begin May 1 and last for 16 weeks. 

The 16-week “sprint” is expected to take place in four phases. Phases one through three will last seven weeks, while the final phase will last for nine weeks.

Phase one includes building on existing research and input, holding one-on-one conversations with stakeholders and hosting a “co-creation” session with invited guests to create early designs, the presentation states. Phase two includes synthesizing and sharing research themes and aligning on directions for the vision, as well as developing and getting feedback on concepts for Grand Park and prioritizing high-impact moments. Phase three involves visualizing concepts that align with what matters most to park users and refining the vision, as well as providing visual direction for Grand Park.  

Phase four involves holding weekly advisory meetings to facilitate the hand-off of designs to the city of Frisco and supporting next steps for the vision and concepts, the presentation states.  

The deliverable for the work with IDEO is expected to include a holistic vision for Grand Park, including evergreen design principles; an “experience journey,” spatial zones and concepts; and a vision statement and brand strategy.  

“We will have a set of guiding principles for this project that pays attention to the values, the needs, the desires of the residents and really frames it in such a way that it’s not so restrictive or constricting that you can’t do something else,” Coates said.  

Coates said the work with IDEO will allow the city to be able to initiate a design for phase one of Grand Park. She said the city will also have guidelines for commercial development.   

The city council approved the item during its regular April 4 meeting. The agreement will be funded through the city’s Capital Projects Fund, according to city documents.