A planned concessions hub for Galloway-Hammond Park in Burnet is building steam, with city officials seeking grant funding to get the project rolling.

The hub would include a new concession stand, restrooms, and two awning-covered pavilions with elevated seating to allow for views of multiple fields at once. The project is expected to be partially funded by grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA).

While the actual design and cost of the hub are still undetermined, initial estimates by city staff  put the price tag at roughly $1.3 million. The city expects to be reimbursed approximately $700,000 by FEMA through flood recovery funding stemming from the July 2025 floods.

City Council also ratified several grant applications during a Monday, Aug. 3, special council meeting for LCRA’s Community Grant Program in hopes of securing up to $100,000 in additional funding.

No exact timeline for the hub has been provided, however, the city has been working to secure most of its funding so it can bid out a contract to begin work.

More on the concessions hub’s origins

City Manager David Vaughn first shared the staff’s preliminary plans for the project during an April 28 council meeting, where he detailed a centrally-located concession, elevated seating, and restroom hub at Galloway-Hammond Park.

“(The hub) would be a huge addition,” Vaughn said. “You have two large awnings off either side, so you can sit under either awning and see two fields at one time and watch the action.”

He noted that the park’s current concession stand was heavily damaged during the July 2025 floods, to the point that city staff began weighing the cost of building a new stand outright rather than trying to salvage the old one.

On top of the damage, the stand is located near one of the city’s several floodplains, making it especially susceptible to future flooding.

Galloway-Hammond is also split into two distinct areas, consisting of the upper and lower ballfields. The current concession stand sits at the middle of the lower ballfields, making those at the upper portion trek a short distance for refreshments.

For those reasons, the city began eyeing the new concessions hub, which is planned to be located near the center of the Galloway-Hammond’s upper and lower portions, and built with either a raised platform or a raised flood barrier to protect against future flooding.

Since the old concession stand was damaged in the July flooding, its reconstruction or rehabilitation was marked for consideration for FEMA funding.

In the nearly 13 months since the floods, the city has worked with FEMA to acquire funding for several reconstruction and rehabilitation projects, such as repairs to the Hamilton Creek playscape, cleaning of the Hamilton Creek dam, and a major flood buyout program to purchase properties across the city that were severely damaged in the flooding.

caden@thepicayune.com