Gatton Park creates an enlivened destination in downtown Lexington and brings new life to a site with centuries of history. The land has hosted settlements, industry, railroads, and most recently parking lots for Rupp Arena. The design converts pavement into a welcoming and ecologically rich environment, restores Town Branch Creek, and creates a flexible and welcoming “living room” for the city while showcasing the natural beauty of the bluegrass region.

A Park Vision Shaped by Community Input

A years-long, robust public engagement process brought together feedback from over 16,000 voices in the region to help shape the broad vision for the park. Starting in 2020, Sasaki and local experts organized surveys, pop-up events, as well as targeted focus group meetings with stakeholders including children and parents, senior citizens, arts groups, nature and wellness enthusiasts, and adjoining property owners to help refine the community’s vision for the park. From the community’s input surfaced a common desire: to prioritize inclusivity in the park’s design and programming.

An Inclusive Community Destination 

Gatton Park features a variety of spaces and amenities that serve and connect the community. As part of the Town Branch trail that runs through Downtown Lexington, the design includes a multi-modal path around the park perimeter and connects to regional bike trails. This quarter-mile loop path also weaves together the major programming and recreation spaces, like a flexible plaza, a café, public restrooms, a flat recreational lawn, the First Impressions sculpture, a play area, dog park, and butterfly garden and plaza. The Great Lawn is home to an amphitheater that can host events with up to 5,000 attendees as well as adapt to smaller, community-oriented programs. 

The playscape design reflects this strong commitment to welcoming visitors of all ages and abilities with dynamic features for learning and recreation. The ADA-compliant 7,000-square-foot signature adventure playground draws inspiration from the native plantings and karst formations of the bluegrass landscape, and a spectacular 35-feet tall play tower, which takes its form from the grist mills that were once a common sight along the banks of the Town Branch creek. Water play features provide relief from the summer heat and invite children to explore engineering technologies through interactive pumps, dams, and channels. 

Showcasing History, Art, and Culture

History, art, and local culture take center stage at Gatton Park with several commissioned works  integrated into the park’s design. Sasaki collaborated with local artists to align each piece with the park’s vision. At the High Street Entrance, Blessing Hancock’s illuminated installation transforms the pedestrian tunnel. At the main plaza, the wall-mounted donor sculpture embodies the beauty of the Town Branch while recognizing the community supporting the park. The plaza is also home to a repurposed box-car-turned-café, which recalls the rail history of the site and is covered with a custom mural by local artists, Often Seen Rarely Spoken. Along the Loop Path, the original public sculpture entitled “First Impressions” by Studio KCA, will serve as a hub for community arts and education programming. Gatton Park has also commissioned a local artist to lead the Untold Stories project, which will honor African American history on the site.

Restoring Environmental Health

Gatton Park implements a number of strategies to restore Town Branch Creek, enhancing  habitat, aesthetics, and hydrologic connectivity, giving Lexingtonians a chance to connect with Town Branch Creek– an integral part of Lexington’s history.

Creek restoration strategies include invasive species removal to establish a successful and healthy riparian buffer, along with native riparian plantings to provide streambank stabilization and habitat for insects and plants. Plantings replace nearly 75% of existing paving and play a critical role in slowing stormwater and filtering pollutants before entering the waterway. Hard armoring the side slopes of Town Branch Creek along with bank toe and streambed stabilizations will also help maintain the channel width, flow, and grade control, preventing erosion during storm events. Gatton Park also worked with the USACE and local historic experts to rebuild centuries-old dry-stacked stone walls and provide interpretive signage for park visitors on the history and construction techniques.

Bioretention area rain gardens along with the addition of nearly 400 new trees plus dozens of preserved existing trees provide additional stormwater absorption and much needed shade, reducing the overall heat island of Downtown Lexington. To help the story of the ecology and restoration of the site, Sasaki created a series of custom concrete stamps and interpretive signs about the species, elements, and water quality improvements found on-site throughout history. 

Gatton Park celebrates the natural beauty and history of Lexington while helping build a healthier and more resilient future for the city’s human and wildlife communities. 

What was formerly an asphalt expanse is now enlivened by 450 trees and thousands of native and adapted plantings, creating a shaded canopy and reducing the heat island effect to have a transformative environmental impact on the city. The new community park is an urban oasis that brings vibrancy to Lexington’s downtown core, restores the environmental health, and builds a healthier and more resilient future.

Gatton Park construction broke ground in August of 2023, and opened to the public with a grand opening celebration on August 23, 2025.