Kyle downtown square to undergo beautification project

The Kyle City Council approved a $93,700 landscape design contract with Coleman and Associates aimed to improve Kyle’s downtown square on Nov. 4.

The scope of the project is to plan the complete redesign and construction management portion of the downtown square, including Mary Kyle Hartson Park and a building design and construction at 104 S. Burleson, according to Assistant City Manager James Earp.

“I think it is very important that we make our city square park our gold standard for our downtown area and our parks system,” councilmember Tracy Scheel said. “This park is part of our history of Kyle. It will also help increase the foot traffic for the downtown corridor to help also increase the businesses in the downtown corridor.”

Despite the city’s efforts, such as routine upkeep, an installed fountain, and soon Burleson’s major road improvements and urban streetscapes, the project will help push Kyle’s downtown square to its full potential, according to Mayor Travis Mitchell.

“This project that we have been undertaking now for several months is designed to amplify and build upon the historic nature of the square and the beauty within,” Mitchell said. “(We will) bring this forward in such a way that the square can be used by more people and even more beautiful than it is now. The building is designed to help foster commercial and pedestrian traffic with our square so that overtime more and more economic prosperity can be seen in and around the square.”

Coleman and Associates landscape design projects include the Kyle Field in College Station, downtown Austin Library and Texas State Bobcat Stadium expansion. The firm and the city will need to work with the Texas Historical Commission to comply with the preservation of the square’s history.