Dallas Park and Recreation staff, past and present Park Board and City Council members and Lake Highlands neighbors gathered earlier this week to rededicate the old Muchert Army Reserve Center on Northwest Highway.
Paul Dyer and family stand outside the newly dedicated Paul D. Dyer Park and Recreation Administration and Service Center on Northwest Highway. Photo by Austin Wood.
On Tuesday, guests gathered at the site to officially name the recently completed facility the Paul D. Dyer Park and Recreation Administration and Service Center. Paul Dyer was the director of Dallas Park and Recreation from 1993 to 2013. The former director was lauded for his influence on the modern Dallas park and recreation system by current Director John Jenkins, District 10 Council Member Kathy Stewart, D10 Park Board Member Scott Goldstein, former D10 Council Member Alan Walne and other former colleagues.
“Mr. Dyer is a leader who shaped our park system and the lives of our Dallas residents,” Kathy Stewart said at the ceremony. “His resume is filled with capital projects and master plans, including downtown parks and the aquatic centers, as well as strategic plans and initiatives on public safety, customer service and environmental actions.”
Dyer addresses guests at the ceremony in the new community room. Photo by Austin Wood.
Sitting next door to the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department’s Northeast Patrol Division, the 30,000-square foot administration building includes office space for six departmental divisions, including IT, reservation services, recreation services and parks maintenance. A large community room can also be found in the new space, which will be available for community meetings and events.
“I think one of the most exciting pieces is the community space which we’re standing in right now,” Stewart said after the ceremony. “I’m looking forward to having public meetings here, it’ll be a new space for that.”
Side room in the community space. Photo by Austin Wood.
Gated park and recreation fleet parking has been added towards the back of the facility, and the secondary structure behind the main building will be used for maintenance.
“What I love about this building, I worked in City Hall in the middle of the political system, this building is where the rubber meets the road, literally, with the maintenance group out back,” Dyer said. “This is all the program staff, the administrative staff in this part of the city. They’re the ones that get everything done. So if there’s anybody who should be getting accolades for all this, it’s the builders. That’s why this building means so much, because it’s not something that was City Hall, it’s emblematic of the people that made this department so great.”
The 5.15 acre property was sold to the U.S. Army in 1950, serving as an Army Reserve center until its closure in 2005. After the closure, the Department of Housing and Urban Development assumed use of the property. When plans to use the property to shelter the unhoused were abandoned due to neighborhood resistance, HUD transferred the property to the City of Dallas in 2009.
Use of the property was transferred to park and recreation soon after the city assumed ownership in 2009. Construction was originally slated to begin in 2016 and finish in 2018, but was bogged down by lead issues, construction delays, and a contractor walk-off. In a June 20. meeting of the Park and Recreation Board, Director Jenkins called the process “the project from hell.”
In June of this year, City Council voted to amend the design-build contract with Phoenix 1 Restoration and Construction to include a revised total of over $4.2 million for the completion of the building, an increase from the original budget of $990,000 approved in 2022. Park and Recreation Employees began moving into the building in March of this year. The move isn’t expected to be fully completed until early 2025, according to Park and Recreation officials.
At the ceremony, Dyer was praised for his contributions to the department. The former director of two decades was credited with major accomplishments, including adding downtown green space, the Renaissance Master Plan, improving the Dallas Zoo, developing municipal golf courses like Tenison Highlands, and adding aquatic centers.
“I consider it an honor for us in District 10 to have something that carries his name, because he exemplifies excellence as it applies to the park department.” former D10 Council Member Alan Walne said. “What he did with golf courses and the way he did it was through borrowing money from the water department, paying it back through the fees so citizens didn’t pay for it. He’s remarkable.”
