By Anne Gelhaus | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group

"The one good thing about the Silicon Valley parking lot commute mornings and evenings on Lawrence Expressway is this small open-air structure with fresh produce in front of a backdrop of acres of corn," Daniel Hindin wrote in a Sunnyvale Sun article about the Corn Palace in 2000.

The year prior Joe Francia, who had co-owned the 20-acre farm with his brother Ben since 1926, told Metro Newspaper that he had no intention of selling the land, located at Lilly Lane and White Oak Street to the west of Lawrence Expressway in Sunnyvale.

Fast-forward to March 2019, and with both brothers gone -- Joe died in 2007 and Ben in 2013 -- their cornfield and produce stand were about to become part of local history. The Sunnyvale Planning Commission approved a project by developer Trumark Homes to construct 58 single-family homes on the 8.8-acre site, which meant the structures that made up the Corn Palace would be demolished and the cornfield repurposed.

Part of that repurposing is a 2-acre publicly accessible park next to the houses at the corner of Toyon and Lily avenues. Construction of the new Corn Palace Park recently began after city officials asked residents to weigh in on three proposed park designs.

The winning design features an open lawn area, two play areas, a tennis court and a basketball half-court, among other amenities. Construction is expected to be completed early next year.