I know I've said it many times here before (and I'm sure some are tired of it,)but I think that if something like
Pentagon Row is set up there,(for those that don't know what you are looking at, the area I am talking about ends at the large parking garages, that is part of the Mall and not part of Pentagon Row. You could envision that as "Hemisfair Plaza Way," the connector from La Villita to the Tower,) it would work out rather well and would leave a triangle of cultural and historical "park."
It has retail on both streetside and interior retail with residential on top. Underground parking garages with some surface parking for convenient stop-and-run-in services. Adding shopping to the area will work because of the proximity to River center especially if the renovations go as planned.
A couple of mid to high rise residentials would serve the area well too and the Victoria Commons area would serve as a good "buffer" between high density housing and the single family homes.
Adding Durango and Alamo St. roadside retail would also encourage people (because nothing else will) to walk from the Rivercenter parking or other places downtown to this area instead of getting in their car and moving to a parking space 2 blocks over.
There is nothing to "anchor" this side of dt; I think this would add a continuation of "city" that isn't there right now.
There really isn't a "park" now, so why turn it into something it never was?