A stretch of land that's been home to Bedford's Bark Park and the Meadow Park Athletic Complex for decades is now up for sale, and the city says it has no plans to buy it. Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District is selling 57 acres of undeveloped land at Harwood and Meadow Park Drive, property that includes both the dog park and the athletic complex where generations of local kids have played softball, baseball and soccer.
The district issued a formal solicitation, Request for Bids 26-12, titled “Sale of 57.48 Acres at Harwood Road and Meadow Park Drive,” through its electronic procurement portal, according to the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District. As reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, HEB ISD will accept sealed bids until 2 p.m. on Aug. 26, and prospective buyers must submit a $100,000 cashier's check just to be considered. The land is valued at $1,142,144, per Tarrant Appraisal District records cited by the Star-Telegram's Elizabeth Campbell.
The school district has declined to comment on why it's selling the Meadow Park land, per the same report. HEB ISD's school board voted in July to hire the firm Lester & Lester to market the property, setting the sale in motion after years of the land sitting idle in district hands.
Decades of Free Park Access Now in Question
HEB ISD originally bought the 57-acre tract back in 1969, intending to build a third high school on the site, a project that never broke ground as regional growth patterns shifted, according to historical context from Candy's Dirt. Bedford purchased a section of the land itself years ago for potential future use, per the Star-Telegram's report, but the district leased the remainder to the city for free under an interlocal agreement, with Bedford handling mowing and maintenance while third-party organizations ran the athletic fields.
The 11-acre Meadow Park Athletic Complex includes two lighted 300-foot softball and baseball fields, two youth soccer fields, covered awnings, picnic areas and the city's Parks Department Tree Farm, according to the city's facility listing. The Meadow Park land also features mature trees and rolling hills, characteristics that made it a target of community pushback when word of a potential sale first spread in 2024. At that time, residents launched social media campaigns and petitioned municipal leaders to preserve the acreage as permanent green space, per Candy's Dirt.
City Says It Won't Buy the Land, but Plans a New Dog Park
Bedford spokesperson Molly Fox said the city isn't planning to purchase the school district property, according to the Star-Telegram. Bedford's Bark Park is still open for now, Fox said, even as the city works on tentative plans for a new dog park to be built next to its Parks and Recreation Department building, across from the city's Law Enforcement Center. Those plans are not yet finalized, Fox told the paper, and the city says it will release more information about the future of both the dog park and the athletic complex down the road.
City Zoning Power Looms Over Any Sale
Whoever wins the bidding process won't have free rein over the property. Any buyer will be required to route site plans and land-use changes through Bedford's formal development process, including public hearings and approvals from the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council, according to city regulations. That means purchasing the land doesn't guarantee a buyer the right to build housing or commercial projects immediately, since Bedford's elected officials retain control over zoning changes.
The sale fits into a broader pattern at HEB ISD, which serves more than 23,000 students across the Mid-Cities area, according to background from Corgan. Rather than build a third high school on the Bedford tract, district voters approved a 2023 bond referendum authorizing full rebuilds of L.D. Bell High School in Hurst and Trinity High School in Euless, each of which enrolls between 2,300 and 2,700 students. That consolidation strategy left the 57-acre Bedford tract as surplus property the district no longer needs for campus construction.
Fitch Ratings affirmed HEB ISD's Issuer Default Rating at AA+ with a stable outlook in August 2024, citing robust operating reserves and solid expenditure flexibility, suggesting the sale reflects asset optimization rather than financial distress. Still, the district sought a 3-cent maintenance-and-operations tax rate increase in October 2025, pushing the rate to 70.26 cents per $100 of taxable valuation alongside higher debt service tied to the 2023 bond package, according to reporting at the time. For now, Bedford families are left waiting to see who submits a winning bid by the Aug. 26 deadline, and what that buyer ultimately decides to do with the ballfields and open space so many in the community have come to rely on.
