Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board awarded two major grants to improve Graco Park
Posted on 16 February, 2023$2.56 million Met Council grant will fund underpass connecting to Boom Island Park, trail connections and intersection safety improvements
$480,000 MWMO grant will fund stormwater management, habitat and geothermal snowmelt system
On February 15, 2023, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) formally accepted two major grants that will drastically improve Graco Park, a new riverfront regional park currently under construction next to the Plymouth Avenue Bridge.
Met Council Grant
The Metropolitan Council awarded a $2.56 million Regional Solicitation grant to fund an underpass trail connection beneath the Plymouth Avenue Bridge that will connect Graco Park and Boom Island Park. This will allow trail users to travel between the two parks without traversing the busy intersection of 8th Avenue NE and Sibley Street NE.
Also included in the grant are safety upgrades at the 8th and Sibley intersection, a new wider trail bridge over the Boom Island Marina outlet, and a dedicated trail through the Boom Island Marina Plaza.
The East Bank Trail has traveled through the Graco site since 2016. When Graco Park is complete, trail traffic at Plymouth Avenue is expected to increase from approximately 200 people per day to approximately 2,000 people per day. The underpass and intersection upgrades funded through this grant will provide much safer access between the two riverfront regional parks.
MWMO Grant
The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (MWMO) awarded a $480,000 grant for native vegetation and habitat restoration, infiltration basins and other stormwater management features, a low-maintenance pollinator lawn, and a heated sidewalk and plaza snowmelt system.
The restored habitat will work hand-in-hand with the new green stormwater infrastructure at the park. A series of interconnected stormwater basins, planted with native vegetation and scattered throughout the site, will form a stormwater treatment train to capture and clean runoff. These features are projected to capture 99 percent of the park’s stormwater runoff and remove up to 85 percent of sediment and phosphorus that otherwise would have entered the Mississippi River.
The heated sidewalk and plaza snowmelt system will be installed in high foot-traffic areas around the new multi-use community building, reducing the need for salt and sand to keep paved areas safe for pedestrian traffic in the winter. The system will use a geothermal heat source part of the “Net Zero” building design already planned for the community building scheduled to open in 2025. Net Zero buildings are ultra-low energy projects that consume only as much power as can be generated onsite by clean, renewable resources.
The project will expand on the native habitat restoration work completed at nearby Hall’s Island, which the MWMO supported with a $1.5 million grant in 2017.
Graco Park Details
The first phase of work to build Graco Park began in 2022. It involved building a flood barrier and grading the site to prepare it for park construction in 2023. The park is expected to initially open in 2024, with the new park building opening in 2025. When it’s complete, it will feature:
- A multiuse Net Zero energy building with public restrooms, community space and a Spark’d Studios location
- Native habitat restoration and stormwater management features, including a geothermal snowmelt system
- A trail under the Plymouth Avenue Bridge that connects to Boom Island Park
- The Mississippi East Bank Trail realigned through the park, with safety upgrades at the intersection of Plymouth/8th Avenue NE and Sibley Street NE
- Gathering spaces, walkways and river access
Future phases could include additional park elements as funding becomes available:
- Watercraft rental
- Picnic shelters
- Additional park or future vendor building
- Hall’s Island river overlook
2018 Agreements
On Oct. 17, 2018, the MPRB and Graco Inc. reached several agreements on the development of a riverfront park adjacent to Hall’s Island in northeast Minneapolis. Included in the agreements:
- The Graco Foundation donated more than $3 million to the MPRB to fund a new park named “Graco Park.”
- Graco gave an easement for the Mississippi East Bank Trail to the MPRB for free and the parties ended legal proceedings related to the easement.
- The MPRB sold 2.2 acres located next to Graco’s Riverside production facility to Graco at a fair market value of $1.1 million.
- This land is part of a 3.55-acre section of the 11-acre site, dubbed “Parcel D,” which was purchased by the MPRB without state regional park funding.
- When the site was acquired in 2010, the MPRB, City of Minneapolis and Met Council all agreed that Parcel D would not become parkland and planned to instead use Parcel D for a public-private partnership of some kind.
- Graco funded flood protection constructed on Parcel D and prepaid park dedication fees for Parcel D.
The contributions from Graco will allow the new riverfront park to be constructed much earlier than it could have through traditional park funding mechanisms.
Site History
2010: The MPRB purchased the 11-acre riverfront site from Scherer Bros Lumber Co. The former lumberyard was cleaned up and industrial buildings and asphalt were replaced with grass over the next few years.
2016: The Mississippi East Bank Trail was paved through the site. This riverfront trail extension connects Boom Island Park, Graco Park and Sheridan Memorial Park before terminating at the BNSF railroad bridge, in the 1600 block of Marshall Street NE.
2017-18: A project restored Hall’s Island, which was eliminated by lumber yard expansion in the 1960s, and created a new gravel river beach.
2018: The MPRB and Graco Inc. reached several agreements that will result in this new park.
2021: MPRB staff collected feedback from the community, researched opportunities and constraints at the site and created a series of Graco Park design concepts for public feedback.
2022: The final park concept was approved by MPRB Commissioners and park construction began.