Construction to overhaul the purpose and character of Surrey Downs Park, located just south of downtown Bellevue, is now underway.

Surrey Downs was closed in mid-April to for the redevelopment and will likely be closed until the end of the year. Surrey Downs is a 10.5-acre park that operated as an elementary school for two decades before closing in 1986 when it was converted into a King County courthouse. The property was transferred to the city of Bellevue in 2005 and turned into a park.

Initial plans to redevelop the park were changed following discussions with Sound Transit, which is planning on running its light rail route along 112th Avenue Southeast directly east of Surrey Downs. Construction on the Sound Transit rail has already begun and Bellevue capital improvements program manager Glenn Kost said this has cut off access to the park and former parking lot from 112th Avenue Southeast.

Due to a lack of access, Kost said the park’s purpose has shifted away from being a community park. When development is complete the park will be accessible by various footpaths connecting to neighborhoods to the west. There will also be a small 21-stall parking lot. A path crossing the Sound Transit rail to the east has been proposed but there are currently no plans for one.

“We changed it to basically more of a neighborhood park,” Kost said.

Kost said the city worked with neighbors to develop a plan for the park. It will have a great lawn and walking track to the north and a large meadow where the baseball fields used to be. Other features include a playground, small maze, paths and picnic tables, among others. Notably, the dedicated sports fields will not be coming back and official sports events will not be scheduled at the park. Berms and trees will provide a sight barrier between neighborhoods to the west and the light rail track, Kost said.

The project will cost around $4.5 million and is paid for through a combination of the city’s 2008 park fund levy as well as the city’s capital improvement program. No grant funds were used on the project. The park will be re-opened when construction and landscaping are complete, which is anticipated to be finished at the end of the year, but this will largely depend on the weather.

“Weather is always a big question mark and whether we’re going to have positive weather throughout the year to get this done right. If we do, we won’t have a problem,” Kost said. “As it stands right now, we believe we’ll be done by the end of the year.”

Service on the East Link light rail expansion should begin in 2023 and will provide the Eastside with nine stations, one of which will be in Seattle. These stations include one in south Bellevue, off Main Street, downtown at Northeast 6th Street, another at Northeast 8th Street, one in the Spring District and another on Bel-Red Road and 130th Avenue. Two more stations will be sited in the Overlake neighborhood and a final one in Redmond.

In 2016, voters approved additional expansions that will ultimately run light rail out to Issaquah and north and south along Interstate 5.