Mayor Bob Buckhorn and the City of Tampa, Florida, broke ground this week on the redevelopment of Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park designed by Denver urban design and landscape architecture firm Civitas with W Architecture and Landscape Architecture of New York. Mayor Buckhorn manned a trackhoe, digging into the dirt of the 23-acre site on the banks of the Hillsborough River at the July 18 ceremony to begin construction of the $35 million project. The park revitalization represents the city’s first major investment on the West Bank of the river in a generation, providing new recreational facilities and activating a neighborhood Buckhorn described in his speech at the event as “underserved for decades.”
Calling city parks “the great equalizers,” open and free to all regardless of social and economic circumstances, Mayor Buckhorn said, “The history of this place is important, but the future is even brighter.”
Constructed in 1977, the original Riverfront Park had been a neighborhood anchor, a popular gathering spot for basketball and large community events, but had fallen into disrepair and disuse. The Civitas and W design team undertook an extensive public engagement process, meeting multiple times with more than 50 community stakeholders and holding public meetings in 2014 to develop programming and park design, and again in 2016 to present the final plan.