Dallas' newest deck park gets new name and $23M donation to fund the mission
DALLAS – From disbelief to seeing the dirt move, Dallas' Oak Cliff community now has 23 million more reasons to believe that the new deck park is really coming.
"I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this!" said April Allen, president and CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation. "This is a really historic, game-changing, transformational commitment from the Halperin family to help us complete this park."
The $23 million donation from the Halperin Foundation is the largest single gift in the foundation's history. The donation will help complete Phase 1 of the park being built over I-35 between Ewing and Marsalis streets near the Dallas Zoo. Organizers say the new deck park will reconnect historic Oak Cliff, spur economic development, and uplift the community.
"I embraced the idea immediately," said Jim Halperin, president of the Halperin Foundation and co-founder of Heritage Auctions. "It checked all the boxes."
Halperin said he tasked his son Dave with identifying a project for the Foundation to support. The family was eager for an opportunity to lift others up while navigating what must surely be life's most cruel low. Halperin lost his adult son, Michael, last year and later built a playground at the family's church in his memory.
"And so Gayle and I are really proud of this playground," Halperin said while walking around and showing off the colorful space that seemed to hold its breath while waiting for the next round of screaming kids. "It was her idea, but I love the idea."
He said he loved the idea of lifting up an entire community—one under-resourced and divided by a freeway that arrived decades ago disguised as progress.
"That was the best part to me," Halperin said. "I think, 'Why divide a community when we have the means to reunite it?'"
The new deck park will include a large lawn, a children's play area, a pavilion, and ample space for food trucks. As it becomes 'Halperin Park,' supporters say the name is changing, but the mission remains the same.
"And we call it a 'park with a purpose,' because it's not just about the greenspace, it's about really growing this community," Allen said. "Dallas has a host of fantastic projects that the Halperin family could have invested in. And I think for them to choose our project says a lot about who they are, says a lot about the work that we're doing, and hopefully says a lot about the future of Dallas."
The park is slated to open in early 2026.
"And I thought, what a wonderful legacy," Halperin said. "What an inspiration to future generations of my family, to give back to their communities."