HOPE Outdoor Gallery faces another delay, but organizers determined to open new art park

Andi Scull wanted nothing more than to have the new HOPE Outdoor Gallery open by now. That goal seemed on track a year ago, as construction crews were busily building the new graffiti park in southeastern Travis County, and organizers were assembling an artists’ showcase for an anticipated January 2024 grand opening. Crews had even brought over a “tribute wall” from the original graffiti park site on Baylor Street, an iconic piece of weird Austin that drew hundreds of visitors a day before it closed in 2019 to make way for luxury condos. The new HOPE Outdoor Gallery, rising from a pasture near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, promises massive new graffiti walls plus murals, meeting spaces and a food truck park. The outline of the structures, visible to anyone flying in or out of Austin, spells H-O-P-E in 180-foot-long letters. “Anticipation was palpable as we prepared to reintroduce the art park to our community,” said Scull, the founder and creative director of HOPE Outdoor Gallery. Then everything came to a halt last October. The gallery organizers discovered “substantial construction issues,” Scull said. Among them: A notice from the Austin permitting department cited “many issues” with the stormwater drainage and erosion control...