Al Wilke Park

An underutilized 10-acre park on Main Street in the rural southwest part of St. Johns County (formerly the town of Hastings), this park has immense potential. As the revitalization of Hastings Main Street continues to expand rapidly and grow in popularity, a large park space like Al Wilke Park could be a major contributor in assisting Main Street become a wildly successful destination.

graphic of a conceptual site plan for a park
graphic of an ariel view of a park

Al Wilke Park | Project Brief

SERVICES: Conceptual Park Design
LOCATION: Hastings – St. Johns County, FL
CLIENT: Hastings Mainstreet
COMPLETION: 2024
PROJECT OVERVIEW:

An underutilized 10-acre park on Main Street in the rural southwest part of St. Johns County (formerly the town of Hastings), this park has immense potential. As the revitalization of Hastings Main Street continues to expand rapidly and grow in popularity, a large park space like Al Wilke Park could be a major contributor in assisting Main Street become a wildly successful destination.

The Hastings Main Street Board of Directors asked Castle Bay to conceptualize Al Wilke Park as a vibrant, dynamic, fully amenitized, and highly attractive park space. Castle Bay focused on a diverse park program which includes the renovation of the existing youth sports fields, a new centrally-located parking area, clearly defined walkways along critical axis’s across the park to and from key park elements, a perimeter walking path with rental pavilions, new pickleball courts, a new basketball court, renovated tennis courts, a large playground, an interactive splash pad, a renovated community center, and a primary park gateway entrance feature directly off the most important view corridor into the park from adjacent Main Street.

Combined with the vibrancy and activity on Main Street, Al Wilke Park has the potential to be one of the crown jewels of the St. Johns County park system.