Note – this is an update from the page 1 park trail article in the October Camden News.
Building demolition and site grading has begun at the future 20-acre riverfront park, with new park and parkway construction planned 2023-24. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is working with the City of Minneapolis on the former Upper Harbor Terminal site to get it ready for a new Northside 20-acre riverfront park.
Work began earlier this year to prepare the Upper Harbor site for the City and MPRB Phase 1 Public Infrastructure Project. Site work this past spring and summer included removal of non-native vegetation and railroad tracks. Structure demolition, site grading and shoreline grading are underway to prepare for street and park construction in 2023-24.
The new regional park is part of a long-term redevelopment planned for the 53-acre former shipping terminal that closed at the end of 2014. The park will follow the west side of the Mississippi River for nearly a mile from 33rd and Dowling Avenues N. It will include: Rehabilitated riverbank and shoreline with a river overlook; bike and walk paths along the river and through the park; parkway road with parking; central open plaza and lawn area for events and activities; native trees, grasses, woody shrubs and perennials planted across the park; and stormwater treatment.
The 2023-24 Public Infrastructure Project includes: Constructing a new north-south parkway; reconstructing Dowling and 33rd Avenues N; improving the Dowling and Washington Avenue intersection; constructing riverfront multi-use trails through the site; constructing 20 acres of public park with restored shoreline running the length of the site; and constructing new or upgrading existing public utilities to support the planned uses on the site.
In August the Hennepin County Board awarded the City a $743,482 Emergency Response Fund (ERF) grant for soil cleanup costs associated with construction of the new, 20-acre riverfront park at the former Upper Harbor Terminal site. The County acknowledged the following impacts of the redevelopment of the Upper Harbor: The project will be the largest single land addition to the Minneapolis Park system in decades, and is part of a broader vision of transforming the formerly industrial riverfront; and the park project includes restoring and revegetating/reforesting old industrial riverfront land and shoreline.
In August the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (MWMO) awarded a $2.6 million grant to the MPRB for shoreline and habitat restoration work and a pedestrian overlook at the Upper Harbor. The MWMO funding will be used to regrade a gentler slope that will support the establishment of native vegetation featuring oak trees and other forbs, grasses and shrubs. These plantings, and the more gradual slope that makes them possible, will prevent the loss of shoreline, stabilize the riverbank soils, sequester carbon and restore habitat along the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area. Visit the MWMO project page for info.
Visit the City’s Upper Harbor project at minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/upper-harbor/. Find related info: Department of Community Planning and Economic Development’s Upper Harbor redevelopment; Department of Public Works’ Upper Harbor Public Infrastructure/Street Construction project. And visit the MPRB Upper Harbor Regional Park project at minneapolisparks.org/park-care-improvements/park-projects/current_projects/upper-harbor-terminal-new-park/.