Following the Governor's announcement of the location of the new University System of Maryland facility in downtown Hagerstown on November 24, 1999, a committee of downtown business reps and local government officials began meeting in March 2000 to plan improvements for the area surrounding the identified USM site. The end result of this committee's efforts was the USM Open Space Project. Recommended improvements included a surface parking lot on W. Franklin Street to serve the USM facility, widened alleys behind the USM facility to provide better access to the new parking lot and USM facility, aesthetic improvements to the alleys approaching the USM facility from N. Potomac Street and W. Washington Street, and the creation of open space features beside and behind the USM facility to serve the downtown and the USM students and faculty. These improvements were seen as complements to the improvements planned on the south side of Public Square for the A&E District.

In the fall of 2002, the City was awarded $1.03 million for Phase I of the USM Open Space Project:

• Pocket Park beside the USM facility on W. Washington Street (site of old McCrory's building) - University Plaza,
• Clearing the lot immediately behind the east portion of the facility for open space (site of old Grand Piano Warehouse),
• Designing the enhancements planned in Phase II for the USM Open Space parking lot and alley widening project,

In May 2003, the City hired an urban design firm to assist with designing the elements of the USM Open Space Project. Construction concluded in the winter 2004/05 and the park opened in the spring 2005.

For more information, email planning@hagerstownmd.org.