North Commons Park renovation nears halfway point amid funding push, budget concerns

The $45 million North Commons Park renovation project, which the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) called the “most significant investment in a Minneapolis neighborhood park,” is nearly halfway completed.

When finished, the longtime Northside park will double in size from its current 21,537 square feet to 58,563 square feet and will be able to serve at least 8,500 youth and residents annually, twice as many as the park serves today.

“It’s a game changer,” declared Park Board Commissioner at-large Meg Forney during an Aug. 20 afternoon tour of the construction site conducted by officials for MSR. She said there’s no reason the city’s largest Black community shouldn’t have “niceties and everything,” as other large parks elsewhere in the city do.

“Our racial equity matrix has really been a game changer as far as distributing our funding more equitably and meeting a community that’s been underserved hugely,” said Forney of the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan (NPP20) that the board approved in 2016.

Long-range planning and philanthropic backing

Daniel Elias, MPRB’s design project manager, said, “The park has a long-range vision plan process that began in 2017, and our board adopted that plan the same year. We secured our first funding for the actual capital project here in 2021.”

The North Commons project is 60 percent public funding and 40 percent private funding, said Minneapolis Parks Foundation Executive Director Martin Wera. His organization is raising $20 million for the large-scale park renovation.

“We’re the primary philanthropic partner to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. We are a separate nonprofit from them, but our mission is really to help sustain, grow and encourage a vibrant park system for generations to come,” Wera said. “For North Commons, we are trying to raise $23.5 million total. We have raised to date nearly $20.7 million.”

New amenities for the Northside

When completed and opened next year, the new North Commons Park will feature a welcome entrance plaza, a community room with kitchen, a wellness room, and a new three-court fieldhouse with an overhead walking and running track.

A new water park, including a six-lane lap pool and an activity play area, will be installed, Elias said. “There’ll be a little tot pool here. We’ll have a new slide tower sitting up in the northwest corner of the park. You’ll be able to see it from miles down Golden Valley Road,” he predicted.

The existing building, including the outside mural at the park entrance, will remain, but a new mural will be added, along with the basketball court that was renovated during the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four, Elias said.

“We’re really hopeful that folks feel like this facility is grounded in North Minneapolis in a way that when you walk in, you couldn’t really be anywhere else,” he said. “We hope it feels welcoming.”

The ultimate goal is for the new North Commons fieldhouse to become “a regional destination to draw people,” Wera continued. “We hope there are tournaments that are held here that are bringing teams from the suburbs to play here in North Minneapolis, instead of making all the North Minneapolis teams go there,” he said.

“Beyond sports, we’re also very much expecting it to be a community gathering space for community events, job fairs, any kind of celebration,” Elias added. “This will be the single largest reservable space in the park system.”

But North Commons will continue to be a neighborhood park, pledged Minneapolis Parks Foundation Community Relations Manager Shawn Lewis, a longtime city parks advocate. “I often say that parks try to serve the broadest population of people with the least amount of barriers,” he said.

Budget watch and community advocacy

When asked if Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s recent budget proposal would adversely affect the North Commons project, Park Board officials said they were hoping it would not. At a recent board meeting, commissioners said “adequate funding” is needed for both Northside projects: North Commons and the 20-acre Upper Harbor Park, a riverfront park slated to open this year.

“There’s a difference between what’s going to be budgeted and what’s reality,” Elias said. “There’s the financial reality of whatever the budget negotiation looks like, and then staffing up accordingly. 2028 will be the first full calendar year where everything is fully operated.”

“I’m concerned with the budget,” longtime North Commons Youth Sports Coach Mike Tate told MSR last week of Frey’s budget, which proposes staff and funding cuts to city parks. He regularly attends Park Board meetings, holding a sign that reads “So How Are The Children?” and has long pushed for a new North Commons facility. He wants the Park Board to fight against any funding and staffing cuts and to find “creative ways to make money so we don’t have to close parks early,” he said.

Nonetheless, everything is on track for the new North Commons park to be fully opened by the summer of 2027, Elias said.

“This has been a very long process, and it really has been a community-wide process,” Wera said. “We’ve had an incredible amount of people donate, everything from $1 to $10 million in support.” He also pointed out that a recent Wilson Foundation matching grant campaign is now underway: “Every dollar that we raise for the next $2 million will be matched by the Wilson Foundation. You give $1, the Wilson Foundation puts in two,” he explained.

“We’re getting close to the end of this campaign but still got a ways to go. We invite people to contribute [go to theminneapolisparksfoundation.org] and help support this transformation of a really iconic park,” Wera said.

“The parks are saving this city,” Lewis said. “We transform human lives through parks and public spaces by aligning philanthropic resources with community vision.”

“There is a real need here,” Forney concluded. “Kids need engagement. It’s just so, so critical.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com. 

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