Newark, New Jersey: A meeting will be held this week regarding a possible expansion of Riverfront Park in Newark.
According to the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation (Newark CEDC), the North of 280 Riverfront Park Design Public Meeting will be held this Wednesday, September 7th at 6:30pm at the Fountain of Salvation Building in Newark's North Ward.
The event, which will be sponsored by the Newark CEDC, James Corner Field Operations, and the Newark Department of Economic and Housing Development, will discuss plans to expand Riverfront Park north between Clay Street and Fourth Avenue. Although that area of Lower Broadway is currently heavily industrial, a retail plaza opened last year on Clay Street, and a new building with retail space and 84 apartments is coming to the block.
Currently, the park, which is managed by Essex County, consists of 12 acres along Raymond Boulevard in the Ironbound with athletic fields, walking trails, a dock used for boat tours, and playgrounds. Under the new project, Riverfront Park will be expanded to the Bridge Street Bridge in Downtown Newark. It will pass the Jackson Street Bridge and Newark Penn Station, and will be built adjacent to McCarter Highway/Route 21. The new addition will include the trail near the FBI's Newark office.
Pedestrian and bicycle pathways, benches, a boathouse, athletic fields, habitat areas, a new floating dock, a stage, an amphitheater, exercise courses, fitness equipment, playground equipment, restroom facilities, and decorative fences are planned for the expanded park, according to a legal notice. Details for the part of the park that will be built north of Interstate 280 have not yet been announced.
James Corner Field Operations will be the lead designer landscape architect for the next phases of the park. According to the City of Newark, Corner's projects have included the High Line in Manhattan, the Race Street Pier in Philadelphia, and Freshkills Park in Staten Island.
The building where the meeting will be held is located at 191 Mount Pleasant Avenue, between Gouverneur Street and Fourth Avenue. The Broad Street Neighborhood Association reports that free boat rides will be offered for the first 25 residents who attend, and that a light dinner will be served.
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