The St. Joe Company Announces Longleaf Art Park At Watersound Origins

The St. Joe Company has announced plans by the Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation, an arts-supporting non-profit organization, for the Longleaf Art Park at the Watersound Origins community.

The park, which is currently under development off Origins Parkway, is planned for 15.5 acres and will be open to the public once complete. Day-to-day operations will be managed by the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County.

The planned park will be anchored by the Passage of Time Pavilion, which will house the late artist Richard Serra’s iconic work Passage of Time. The 217-foot long 540,000-pound sculpture constructed in the artist’s preferred medium features eight two-inch thick weathering steel plates measuring 13.5 feet in height displayed in a meandering parallel arrangement.

The planned Longleaf Art Park and the Passage of Time Pavilion have been designed by OLI Architecture in collaboration with Richard Serra. In order to create a destination that blends with its existing natural environment, emphasis has been placed on keeping all construction disturbances on the site to a minimum.

In addition to the Passage of Time Pavilion, the park will feature amenities including an outdoor event space that will host future programming opportunities. Meandering paths and boardwalks will lead visitors from a parking area through native landscape on a journey through carefully contoured berms surrounding a pond as they approach the Passage of Time Pavilion. The pavilion is designed to be entered from glass vestibules welcoming visitors to an intimate experience with the sculpture.

“The creation of the Longleaf Art Park marks the beginning of a new cultural era for Walton County and establishes the Northwest Florida region as a home and destination for artistic excellence,” said Jennifer Steele, Executive Director of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County. “The importance of access to a piece of work as significant as Richard Serra’s Passage of Time cannot be overstated, and the impact it will have on our local artists, residents, students, and visitors will be limitless and lasting for generations.”

Plans call for the park to be open in 2026.