OHIO CITY, Ohio — Work has started to transform Irishtown Bend along the Cuyahoga River into a new park that would be the final piece of the Lake Link trail, while also ensuring ships can travel safely down the river.
Ohio City is one of Cleveland's premier neighborhoods. The demolition on the north end of West 25th Street is just the start of major upgrades in the works.
"LAND Studio was able to acquire a $1.4 million grant from the State of Ohio. The Clean Ohio Grant. And we’ve used that to acquire the buildings and also demolish it. And grade the upper part of the hillside," explains Joel Wimbiscus, Project Manager for LAND Studio.
And with help from the Cleveland Metroparks and the Cleveland Port Authority, the entire area will be converted into green space.
"The park is a 17 acre park. It’ll essentially go all the way from the sidewalk on West 25th, all the way down to the river’s edge," says Wimbiscus.
The park will become one of the Metroparks' premier spaces, with added trails and a boardwalk along the river's edge. Most importantly, it will serve as the final piece of the Lake Link Trail that connects the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Lake Erie's shoreline.
"You’re going to have like five regional trails that all come right here," says Wimbiscus. "You’ll be able to go down to the National Park from here, get to Edgewater and Lake Erie from here – It’s sort of a Grand Central Station of trails within itself."
But the project isn't going to be simple. The property is slidign down toward the river below and needs to be stabilized in a separate Port Authority project costing tens of millions of dollars.
According to Wimbiscus, the park can’t be built until the hillside is stabilized. And the Port Authority is in the process of finalizing the engineering designs.
When it's all said and done, greater Cleveland's award-winning park system will have another gem to brag about.
"We’ll be doing a lot of public engagement. We want it to be a park space that unites all different types of people where everybody feels welcome," adds Wimbiscus.
This is a multi-year project with a timeline that's dependent on how long it takes to fix the hillside itself. That project is also important because if not fixed, a landslide could block a portion of the Cuyahoga River. That would be detrimental to the businesses who rely on cargo ships to get through.
Check out more video from Monday's demolition in the player below:
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