Walton Street Park

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What's Next for Walton Street Park?

The next phase of improvements for Walton Street Park has begun! The City of Asheville hired Progressive Companies to translate community engagement and visioning into a design that incorporates environmental compliance, building codes, and other requirements to preserve the legacy of Walton Street Park through a vibrant, exciting adaptive reuse that can be enjoyed for generations. This project team brings extensive architectural, engineering, and design experience to complete reimagining the park’s pool and bathhouse area with an emphasis on inclusivity, adaptability, and community value.

The project team recently met with Southside Neighborhood Association (SUNA)’s Walton Street Park Steering Committee for their direct input on what the community wants for the park. The team is currently using all the feedback gathered over the past several months to create concept renderings. Once they’re ready, expect an opportunity to view them and share your thoughts!

Construction is expected to begin in 2026.

What's the Goal of This Project?

The community’s main goal is to transform historic Walton Street Park’s pool area into a multi-use community space that honors its rich history and importance. This means keeping elements of the old pool and bathhouse and blending them with new features for everyone to enjoy for generations to come.

Since 2023, the City of Asheville has invested in major improvements based on community feedback, including:

• New playground
• New basketball court with a community-created mural paying tribute to the Southside neighborhood
• New multi-purpose field to replace the baseball field
• New paved path for walking and rolling
• New benches, trash cans, and lighting
• Updated landscaping and picnic shelter pavilion

This current phase of improvements will focus on the pool area and other park amenities – guided by your feedback and what’s possible with the project budget, available space, and other factors.

How We Got Here: A Community-Driven Process

Community input has been key to this project from the very beginning.

In 2022, Walton Street Park was named a Local Historic Landmark, followed by a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023. Over 80% of people surveyed at the time supported historic designation and wanted the space to be preserved for flexible uses including performances, gatherings, and play.

To make sure the community’s voice was at the forefront of this project, SUNA formed a steering committee that has worked directly with the City of Asheville to lead the engagement process. From March through May, they gathered feedback through a focus group and survey, with more than 178 people participating. Key themes that came up over and over again included:

• Performance, events, and gathering space
• Active recreation
• Community sharing
• Honoring history in a meaningful way

Based on this feedback, the Walton Street Park Steering Committee developed a community vision for the project, with the abbreviated version:

"We envision a community space for performances, gatherings, recreation, and skills sharing that is safe and enriching for all ages, while artfully honoring the important history of this place."

We can’t wait to continue the process as we work together to bring this vision to life!

Resources:

• Survey Results
• Focus Group Findings
• Community Engagement Report

Special thanks to Southside United Nieghborhood Association and its Walton Street Park Steering Committee for invaluable leadership during community engagement.