Audubon Park Playground and Site Improvements Design and construction of a universal playground and other site improvements

Milestones (anticipated project schedule by month/season)

Summer-Fall 2023 – Community Engagement for Concept Development
Winter-Spring 2024– Concept Development – Schematic Design – Design Development – Construction Documents
Summer-Fall 2024 – Project Bidding
Summer-Fall 2025 – Construction

Background

Located in the northeast quadrant of the Service Area in the Audubon neighborhood, this 6-acre park is set in a residential neighborhood. The first five acres of Audubon Park were purchased in 1910, and Pierce Street through the park was closed. The park was expanded slightly in 1912 by an added four-tenths of an acre. In 1914, the Park Board closed Buchanan Street between the park and Thomas Lowry School as part of park superintendent Theodore Wirth’s plans, presented in 1915 and again in 1918, to create a playground from the school extending into the park. A playground apparatus was provided to the park in 1921. Financed by city bonds and property assessments in 1959, Audubon got new playground equipment, a wading pool, and ball fields. Construction of a shelter building was completed in 1960, resulting in “a new modern playground” where the “formerly hilly terrain made its value as a playground somewhat limited,” according to the 1960 annual report. When looking at the steep grades in the park today, it is hard to imagine the park when those slopes were steeper. The park’s terrain makes it one of the most interesting neighborhood parks in the city—and provides a great sledding hill. The park that had waited so long for a shelter building was upgraded near the end of the 1970s during the recreation center building boom in Minneapolis parks. The current recreation center was dedicated in 1979. New playground equipment was added to the park in 1997 partly through neighborhood commitment to Neighborhood Revitalization Program funds. Native plants and shrubs were planted on the hillside in the park in 2011.

The upcoming improvements for Audubon Park are the first phase of implementation projects from the Audubon Master Plan, which was developed with community input between 2015 -2019. Now we are reaching out for feedback to create a more detailed concept plan for the playground and potentially a dog park or other site improvements recommended in the master plan.

Funding

Funding (NPP20)

CIP 2022 – $240,478
CIP 2023 – $110,000
CIP 2024 – $1,350,000

Total:  $1,700,478