'We're excited to build this new urban greenspace'

By KATU.com Staff Published: Feb 21, 2012 at 2:10 PM PDT Last Updated: Feb 21, 2012 at 4:39 PM PDT
'We're excited to build this new urban greenspace'
Rendering of The Fields Neighborhood Park (courtesy: Portland Parks & Recreation).

PORTLAND, Ore. - Work is about to begin on Portland's newest public park and you're invited to a celebration to kick off construction.

The Fields Neighborhood Park at Northwest 10th and Overton (in the Pearl District) will be a 3.2-acre park featuring a children's area, dog park, large lawn, sitting areas, paths, picnic tables and modern landscaping.

"We are excited to build this new urban green space, the third in a sequence of parks in the Pearl District," Portland Parks Commissioner Nick Fish said in a news release. "It’s a win-win: a new recreation area for families, and much-needed construction jobs for our community."

A Salem company, R&R General Contractors, will be working on the project. It's scheduled to be completed in the winter of 2013. Portland Parks & Recreation sent the following background on the project:

This is the third park that was outlined in the Portland River District Park System Urban Design Framework Study (January 2001). The study included planning and design concepts for four parks within the Urban renewal Area (URA) located between NW 10 and 11 Avenues, beginning at NW Johnson.

The four parks include Jamison Square (completed 2002), Tanner Springs (completed 2005), The Fields, and a potential Riverfront Park. The Fields is situated within the Hoyt Street Yards portion of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association (PDNA).
  
In the early 1900s, the Pearl District was a major industrial and transportation hub of Portland, with extensive rail yards, warehousing, and manufacturing facilities. In the 1950s, many industrial activities were relocated as transportation patterns shifted from water and rail to surface transit on interstate highways and air. The low rents that soon followed created spaces for artists and small businesses.
 
The Pearl District of today began in the early 1980s with extensive planning efforts to convert warehouses and rail yards into mixed use development. Pearl District redevelopment gained momentum in the 1990s which resulted in urban mixed use with multi-family residential buildings, offices, and a broad range of retail shops and services.

The kickoff celebration will be held Tuesday, March 6 from 3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. All are welcome to drop by. Commissioner Nick Fish and Portland Parks & Recreation Director Mike Abbaté will be speaking at the event. Neighbors, community members and civic leaders are expected to be there as well. 

In other park news, one of Portland's dog parks will be getting an extreme makeover and you get to help choose which one.

Portland Parks & Recreation, Banfield Pet Hospital and the Trail Blazers are teaming up to give a one of three local dog parks a facelift this fall.

The nominees are Wallace Park at Northwest 25th Avenue and Raleigh, Gabriel Park at Southwest 45th and Vermont Street and Chimney Park at 9360 North Columbia Boulevard.