The park with the pond and the amphitheater at 4550 Mueller Blvd. now has an official name: Girard Kinney Park at Mueller. Mueller announced the change on Nov. 17, 2025, almost two decades after the park opened in April 2007. The man it honors spent years on the questions Mueller is still settling about its airport-era landmarks. The agreement that has guided the redevelopment ends on Dec. 31, 2027. The parks now have their final names. The future of the Browning Hangar is still being decided.
Kinney was an architect and a Cherrywood neighborhood leader. He worked with Citizens for Airport Relocation, known as CARE, which pushed to build a new airport somewhere else and also recommended how to redevelop the 700-plus acres left behind. He represented the neighborhood on the City's Airport Advisory Board from 1984 to 1994. In 1996 he chaired the RMMA Process and Goals Task Force, which shaped the six primary goals that still guide Mueller, according to Mueller's announcement.
His work elsewhere in Austin includes Symphony Square, Zach Scott Theatre's Whisenhunt building and the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge, plus his leadership at Scenic Austin.
At Mueller, his role ties directly to the buildings still standing. The redevelopment team hired him to study how the historic Robert Browning Hangar could be reused and what it would take to open the old control tower to the public someday. Jim Walker, who chairs the Cherrywood Neighborhood Association, made the same connection in the announcement:
"Mueller is a much better place because of Girard's commitment, passion and insight – particularly related to sustainability features and preservation of historic structures."
Community Impact reported the renaming on Dec. 11, 2025, and also quoted Walker's praise. The new name is still catching on. KUTX lists its concert venue as "Girard Kinney Park at Mueller (formerly Mueller Lake Park)," while Visit Austin's directory still uses the old name for the same address.
Kinney's park was the last of Mueller's major parks to get a person's name. Mueller announced it soon after opening Roger Lavon Taylor, Sr. Plaza, which it calls its last open space, near the control tower. Mueller's other named parks recently received permanent bronze signs, in English and Spanish, summarizing each namesake's contributions.
| Park | Opened | Named for |
|---|---|---|
| Girard Kinney Park at Mueller | April 2007, renamed Nov. 2025 | Architect and CARE advocate for the airport's redevelopment |
| Ella Wooten Park | 2013 | First woman on the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce board |
| Paggi Square | April 2013 | Michael Paggi, who brought ice manufacturing to Austin in the late 1800s |
| John Gaines Park | July 2016 | Austin's first African American police officer |
| Branch Park | May 2019 | Mary Elizabeth Branch, first female president of what is now Huston-Tillotson University |
| Jessie Andrews Park | November 2020 | First female graduate and first female professor at UT Austin |
| Taniguchi Park | April 2024 | Isamu Taniguchi, creator of the Japanese Garden in Zilker Park |
| Roger Taylor Plaza | April 2025 | Roger Lavon Taylor, Sr., who helped save the control tower |
Kinney's park opened first, and it got its name last. Once Mueller is complete, it plans to have 144 acres of public parks and open space.
Roger Taylor Plaza covers one acre around the former control tower on Berkman Drive, between McCurdy and Sorin streets. A paver walkway connects the John Gaines Park community gardens to the tower. A winding path rises to an overlook bridge, built as a nod to the days when travelers watched planes from the old terminal roof. Taylor was an Army veteran who founded the J.J. Seabrook neighborhood, served on the RMMA Airport Advisory Committee and helped keep the tower from being demolished, according to Mueller's parks page.
The plaza is a finalist for Best Project Design in the 2026 ULI Austin Impact Awards. The tower now has a finished park around it. The hangar has a design under review.
The hangar is one of the last structures left from the original airport. EASTside Magazine described it in February 2026 as a place for workout classes and community events. Its next form is now under review, and the City's public records lay out the timeline:
The plan is still a design concept. A community group runs browninghangar.org and has drafted public-access principles for PIAC to consider. The group's website lists everyday uses of the hangar, including pétanque, martial arts, food-truck lunches and dog walking. Its drafts would set aside a mapped public area with meaningful hours and no purchase or reservation required. They would also require published rules and make the protections binding on future owners. PIAC and City Council have not adopted these drafts.
Kinney studied reusing this building decades ago. The park now named for him is a short walk from where that question is being decided, with about 14 months left before the development agreement ends.
This fall, the most practical way to see these places is to show up when something is scheduled.
For the concerts, KUTX points to CapMetro routes 20, 10 and 350. Drivers can use hourly parking in the McBee Garage across from the Thinkery or metered City spaces around the park. Bring a blanket thick enough to stand up to sticker burrs, plus hearing protection for kids; the KUTX tent hands out free kid-sized earplugs while they last. Pets must be leashed. Coolers are welcome, but glass is not.
What happens to the Browning Hangar will shape how this part of Mueller looks and works long after 2027. If you own near Aldrich Street or the old airport landmarks and want to understand how these public-space decisions connect to your own long-term plans, Courtney Unangst and her team can walk you through it. Schedule a Strategy Session.
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