One era ends, another begins on Cincinnati riverfront

Groundbreaking for the first stage of phase one of Cincinnati's new "front yard" began last week.

The $120 million Cincinnati Riverfront Park project has been a long time in the making, according to Cincinnati Parks superintendent of planning and design Steve Schuckman.

"I have been working on this project since the fall of 1997 so it has been 11 years of planning to get to this point," he says.  "In many ways it is the end of an era of dreaming, planning and design - and the beginning of the next era of construction."

Much of the work was done behind the scenes.

"It took the work of many to get us to where we are now - citizens who served on the riverfront park steering committee, focus groups, public meetings, meetings with stakeholders, and the hard work of staff, consultants and partners that was translated into the park design," Schuckman says.  "And we have also been working for most of this time to come up with a funding plan and operating plan."

A quarter of the funding for the 45-acre park will come from private donations and endowments.

"Though there is a long way to go, we now have commitments of $30 million toward park construction," Schuckman says.  "By the end of 2010, if we obtain the additional funding we need, we should be able to complete phase one."

Phase one, east of the Roebling Bridge, will include a restaurant, a visitors center, an event lawn and stage, a promenade, a plaza with water jets, cascading pools, glass-floored balconies, a bike center, a section of the Ohio River Bike Trail, a tree grove and gardens, public art and restrooms.

It is estimated that the park will bring 1.1 million new visitors downtown annually.

Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Source: Steve Schuckman, superintendent of planning and design, Cincinnati Parks
Images courtesy of Cincinnati Parks