Construction begins soon on upgraded skate park at Elliot Park!
Posted on 9 July, 2020
Skate park will open in late fall or spring 2021; connections for new park lighting will cause power outage on July 20-21
The Elliot Park skate park will be upgraded this fall! Construction begins in August on an exciting project that will expand and enhance the skate park, along with additional upgrades near the skate park at the northwest corner of the park.
Skate Park Upgrades
The Elliot Park skate park, originally built in 2004, will be removed beginning in early August. Workers will replace the old skate park with a premier street-style skate park featuring a skateable seat wall, quarter pipe, rail and ledges. Construction will likely wrap up in spring 2021. Follow the link below to see illustrations of the new skate park:
Elliot Park Skate Park Illustrations [PDF]
Work on this project also includes two new rainwater gardens and a new permeable patio to help infiltrate runoff from the skate park. These important new amenities are funded through a grant from the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization. A new sidewalk connection with new bike racks will be built near the park entrance at the corner of S Eighth Street and S Ninth Street to make this portion of the park more accessible.
The Minneapolis Skate Park Activity Plan, approved in January 2018, helped guide the new skate park design.
Lighting Upgrades
The athletic field, which was upgraded and expanded in 2015, was recently outfitted with four new light poles to extend play into the evening. These lights will also illuminate the new skate park. Existing pedestrian and path lighting will also be replaced throughout the park this fall.
Elliot Park (just the park, not the neighborhood) will be without power on July 20-21 to allow Xcel Energy to safely connect the new lighting to the electrical grid.
Project Partners and Funding
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) thanks supporters of this project:
- The Hennepin Youth Sports Program contributed a $200,000 grant
- The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization contributed a $49,373 grant for rainwater gardens and a permeable paver patio
- Elliot Park Neighborhood Inc. approved allocating $487,503 from Elliot Park Neighborhood Park Dedication Funds
- City of Skate is the MPRB’s official skate park fundraising and advocacy partner and helped solicit many donations of materials or expertise to move the project forward.
The field and path lighting upgrades were funded via 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan park rehabilitation funds.