The bad news: the Los Angeles State Historic Park, known by some as the Cornfield, could close in January for a year. The good news: a bigger green space with more amenities could take its place in 2015. Funding for the park's $18 million renovation (a long-planned full buildout) was included in this year's state budget--should everything go swimmingly with the budget committee, the project will begin work in January, Downtown News reports. The Cornfield is currently a 13-acre site adjacent to the Gold Line Chinatown station (the green-heavy, cement-light park is a favorite of joggers and dog walkers); now the park's undeveloped 19 acres, which currently host raves, concerts, and fairs, will be remade into an extension of the existing green space. The new 32-acre park will be outfitted with a welcome pavilion, a promenade for a farmers market, an amphitheater, wetlands areas, and permanent restrooms.

The park came about in 2005 after artist Lauren Bon nabbed a $2 million grant for her "Not a Cornfield" art project, which turned the empty parcel, once the site of a Southern Pacific train station (seeds that fell off trains helped corn sprout on the land), into a space for plantings and movie screenings. California State Parks soon took over the space, hired San Francisco-based Hargreaves & Associates to design a permanent park, and then opened up the 13-acre temporary park until money could be secured for the entire 32-acre space. The city has ambitious mixed-use plans for the area surrounding the park, with no parking required for future developments.

· Los Angeles State Historic Park to Close for a Year [DN]

· Full Cornfield Park Project Finally Moving Forward [Curbed LA]