"Designed by the landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Detroit's new riverfront park is a multidimensional destination intended to draw people from across the region and the age spectrum. Its postcard highlights are specially designed animal-themed playgrounds, a cityscape-framing allée of cherry trees, a covered basketball pavilion designed by Adjaye Associates, and, most uniquely, a two-acre lagoon fed by the river that gives visitors the rare opportunity to come up close and touch the water."
"America's next great riverfront park has just opened in Detroit. Covering 22 acres along the Detroit River, Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park is the latest high-profile project to open in a troubled city now on a much-touted rebound. With an $80 million budget buying world class design from two highly regarded firms, it's a major investment in the city's public realm. And though a massive embezzlement scandal nearly derailed the project in 2024, the park is now open to the public."
Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park covers 22 acres along the Detroit River and opened after construction began in 2022. The park includes animal-themed playgrounds, a cityscape-framing allée of cherry trees, a covered basketball pavilion by Adjaye Associates, and a two-acre river-fed lagoon that lets visitors come close enough to touch the water. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates led the landscape design. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy led the project and has invested over $300 million building riverfront parks and a nearly 5.5-mile continuous riverwalk. The site was formerly a rail turning yard and printing-press location, cut off by a railyard and derelict parking lot.
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