Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's been more than two years since work commenced on the grounds of the new Ralph Wilson Centennial Park, formerly LaSalle Park, to provide the City of Buffalo a new park that will provide more than 100 acres of green space and access to the Lake Erie shoreline.
Now the park is nearing the completion of Phase I of the project, which Katie Campos, executive director of the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy, says is a little bit more than half of the construction project.
"That's the 4th Street part of the park, the bridge, the Great Lawn, the ball fields, the South end and the inlet. And in the final touches, unlike buildings where it might take days or weeks, take a few months," said Campos on Tuesday. We're looking for grass to establish, for trees to grow, to pave the final path. So we're looking to re-open this first phase of the park sometime in 2026, late 2026."
This Saturday is a milestone day for Ralph Wilson Centennial Park with the first part of the park opening along 4th Street with a new playground for residents in the West Side neighborhood. In addition, city residents will be able to get a special sneak peak of the park and its pedestrian bridge that extends over the I-190.
Campos is excited for people to see the changes to the park, specifically in elevation taking shape with the final grading.
"You can see the hills and the pathways and the trees leading up to the bridge and up to the park, and then the expanse of the bridge," Campos said in an interview with WBEN. "Now we can give the community a chance to see what that looks like. You're going to see that it is wide and it is big and it is beautiful, and it's like walking through a piece of art to get to Ralph Wilson Park."
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Those attending the sneak peak on Saturday will also get the chance to see the new baseball, softball and soccer fields that are set to be some of the nicest fields in the region.
"What kid is not going to want to play on these incredible fields with lights and scoreboards? You can really see that starting to take shape," Campos added.
As for the 4th Street side of the park, Campos is excited to welcome the community in to enjoy it in a new way for the first time.
"Decades ago, that area was actually the Lake View Homes, and when they were taken down, there was this flat green space with a small playground. And through the community design period, we built these raising pathways that lead up 30-plus feet to the new pedestrian bridge. The bridge leading you to a new view of the park and a new view of the lake, but there's also the remainder of 4th Street. And so what we did was we took a smaller playground and put it out to our community and said, 'Let's design a bigger playground together," Campos explained.
Campos says what the Conservancy heard from the community is they wanted a place to play for a long time, for more than 15 minutes. The new playground is three-and-a-half times as big as the old playground that was there previously.
"You see hundreds of boulders that kids can climb on, that parents can sit on. Driftwood from Lake Erie from the other side of the park that we brought in for nature play. Hills that kids can climb on and roll down. This is going to be a really great new space at Ralph Wilson Park, and we're excited for the community to be brought back into this part of Ralph Wilson Park," Campos noted.
Weather has been something the Conservancy has constantly been trying to work with, with crews having found something to work on regardless of what conditions are like outside.
"I will say this was a tough spring, a very, very wet spring, a very, very dry summer, and we've had to adjust to make sure we can get grass planted, get grass established and open this back up to the public," Campos said. "But even in the winter, we are dealing with it. And we're building a park that has hills and trees to protect the community against weather so that this will be a park that you can enjoy 365, days a year."
As for Phase II of the project, work is already underway, and is anticipated to be complete with the full park open in 2028.
When all is said and done with Ralph Wilson Centennial Park, Campos says the massive transformation will be a massive investment for the community, both from an economic and community health standpoint.
"We're talking about a park that was completely flat, you could see clear across, that was constantly flooded, was constantly closed down. Now we're seeing 30-foot hills, many, many more trees, one mile of shoreline, a state-of-the-art pedestrian bridge. And the scale of this transformation is truly historic," Campos said.
"This is a park that will outlast our grandkids' grandkids' grandkids. It's once in a city's lifetime investment, and we want our community to come out and take a glimpse before it's complete, so they can see what the scale of this transformation really looks like. It still looks like it's under construction, but you're going to see it right before all the final touches are done, and right before we open it up to the public in late '26."
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