Big Spring Park Expansion - Completion by Spring 2027

Big Spring Park will be expanded by 2.4 acres at a cost of $12.5M. The work should be completed by Spring 2027. The expansion includes a pavilion that can be reserved and restrooms.

Full story from al.com https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2026/01/one-of-huntsvilles-most-popular-spots-getting-a-125-million-makeover.html

Huntsville is moving forward with the expansion of Big Spring Park East on the site of the now demolished former city hall.

The City Council will vote Thursday on an almost $12.5 million contract with Fite Construction of Decatur on the expansion. The contract will be for 400 days.

The work consists of creating an expansion of new park space within Big Springs Park with concrete plazas, walls, a playground, seat walls, a pavilion and bathroom building, water features, public art walks (sidewalks), streetscape improvements, as well as landscape and irrigation, as well as all civil, architectural, and electrical associated with the project.

The park is expanding by 2.4 acres, Chad Bostick, principal at Bostick Landscape Architects, told the Huntsville Planning Commission last summer. The expansion includes the grassy slope near the AT&T building that was the former home of the City Hall Annex.

Current plans call for an upper plaza with a pavilion with additional trees to be planted. It will also include a much-needed restroom facility. The city had a fountain designer helping with plans for a water feature.

Residents will be able to use the pavilion approximately 10 months out of a year, city officials said at a Planning Commission meeting.

The pavilion itself will have garage doors and would be intended to be open during the day for public access and use. It has the potential that is the same for other pavilions in other city parks where it can be reserved for events.

A lower plaza area will be elevated above the existing Big Spring Park East. It will have built in seating with tables and chairs for chess and lunch space, Bostick said.

The expansion does not come without challenges, mainly in the elevated portion of the park. The city is designing American with Disabilities Act-compliant switchback trails that will include concrete seating and new landscaping.

A winding path similar to San Francisco’s Lombard Street will provide ADA connection from Church Street to Fountain Circle at the south end of the park that will also integrate public art.

Fite Construction is no stranger to working on city facilities. It is the contractor for the city’s $18.5 million, 60,580-square-foot recreation center at John Hunt Park