Dallas is now set to transform one of its ubiquitous downtown surface parking lots into a public green space.

The City Council approved on Wednesday a development agreement with Parks for Downtown Dallas to build what will be called, for now, Pacific Plaza Park. The nonprofit organization, which fought back an adversarial group that wanted to build an underground parking garage on the site, will donate $15 million to pay for the construction of the park and another $1 million for an operating endowment.

The nonprofit is chaired by Robert Decherd, the former chief executive of The Dallas Morning News' parent company, A. H. Belo Corporation.

Robert Kent of the Trust for Public Land lauded Decherd and Parks for Downtown Dallas. He said the park is vital to attract families to an increasingly residential downtown. The Trust for Public Land had advocated for the park and helped the city acquire the 3.2 acres of land, near St. Paul and Harwood Streets and Pacific Avenue, about 10 years ago.

"We couldn't be more thrilled that the city is moving forward with Parks for Downtown Dallas," Kent said. "We can't wait to have this beautiful park in the middle of downtown to bring our city together in the near future."

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The park isn't completely free to taxpayers, who will have to foot the bill for remediating the city-owned land. City officials said the environmental work could cost between $500,000 and $1.6 million.

Parks for Downtown Dallas president Amy Meadows said that once remediation is done, which the group hopes will be early 2018, construction of the park will begin and take 12 to 18 months.

A sign heralds the future site of Pacific Plaza Park. (File Photo/Louis DeLuca)

The nonprofit originally included the park as part of a $35 million gift it had pledged to the city to fund half the cost of four new downtown parks. But the deal had one catch: The city first had to commit another $35 million in bond money to match the donation.

Decherd had worked with the city in the past to develop Belo Garden. City leaders had seemed on board with the idea, and the parks were set to be included in the May 2017 bond package that was later delayed until November.

But another for-profit group called 4P Partners complicated their efforts. The well-connected group, headed by businessman Ron Lusk, had offered to build an underground parking garage on the property with a park on top.

Park Board members had concerns over the designs and the group's tactics at City Hall, among other issues. But 4P Partners continued to push forward and added state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, as a partner on its project.

West, a prominent southern Dallas politician and lawyer, called council members about the proposal last year.

Afterward, Decherd's foundation removed Pacific Plaza from the bond discussion and offered to shift money around and pay for the entire park. The move effectively neutralized 4P Partners' efforts and allowed the Parks for Downtown Dallas proposal to breeze through the Park Board.

Lusk, however, has hinted at possible legal action in the past. He blasted the Park and Recreation Department for "a total lack of transparency" in an email after the vote.

He also said Wednesday that downtown Dallas needed parking.

"This is a major setback to the economics of the core of downtown Dallas," Lusk said. "While I am pleased that the eyesore ... will become a park we believe that it is a very shortsighted decision."

In the end, four southern Dallas council members — Tiffinni Young, Casey Thomas, Erik Wilson and Carolyn King Arnold — voted against the development agreement. They had grilled Park and Recreation staffers on the lack of black workers included in the initial design and development contract.

Meadows said the foundation has a long history of minority inclusion in contracts.

"I have no doubt we will meet or exceed the city's requirements," she said.

Council member Philip Kingston, who represents the area, lauded Meadows' group and said Dallas needs many more parks for its residents. Pacific Plaza is a step in the right direction, he said.

"This is a wonderful metaphor, turning a downtown parking lot into a park," he said. "There is a beauty to that."