A few weeks ago, Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks told residents that a master plan presentation for what might come of the temporarily named Pryor Park area of Athens was coming soon. He also gave a sneak peek of sorts into what amenities could be part of the project, including some many residents have been asking for for many years

Members of the Alta Group, which was contracted by the city to put together a master plan for Pryor Park, gave a presentation at Monday’s council meeting and detailed what features are planned for the area.

“This construction will be done in phases over a number of years, and it will take us tying money to it, which is always an important issue,” Marks said. “We wanted to give a rundown of the master plan layout that has been presented to the city council, and we will start putting money together for each phase as we construct them.”

Will Hargrove of Alta Group began the presentation. He said the city looked at the soon-to-be former Pilgrim’s Pride area 10 years ago and “kickstarted” planning for what that area might become in the future. He said he city bought the property a few years later, completed the demolition of the structures on site, and planning for the future development began in 2019 with another firm.

“We plan to activate different areas of the park in different phases,” Hargrove said.

As part of the presentation, Hargrove said features currently planned to be a part of Pryor Park include a gateway arch entrance on one side, mixed-use buildings like retail and office space, a new playground — including a large splash pad — an amphitheater stage and lawn with space for about 5,000 people, a trailhead for the Singing River Trail, a beer garden, a large pavilion and accompanying lawn space, a retail incubator, a multi-modal bridge across the creek, a dog park with areas for large and small breeds separated by fencing, an outdoor classroom for local students and residents space for development.

He said of the 32 acres of space, 70 percent will be used for park features while 30 percent will be for the residential area.

“As we keep growing as a city, I think where we differentiate ourselves from other cities in the region is that quality of life component,” Hargrove said. “I think the more we continue to push these type of improvements that help people enjoy their day-to-day life better, the more people we will get wanting to move here instead of Decatur, Huntsville or Florence.”

Hargrove said the first few phases of construction on Pryor Park would include the infrastructure, playground, splash pad, trailhead area and dog park. He said the idea is to begin adding features to the park that begin drawing residents into the site and get them excited about the space before moving on to larger projects within like the amphitheater.

Marks said a link to the plans for the park will be available on the city’s website soon.

“As we start putting phases together, we will come back to the city council with each one of them for approval with a money stream tied to it,” Marks said. “We may partner with a civic or service organization about the naming.”

Marks told the council he does not expect to have any further updates on Pryor Park for the next two to three months.