INDIANAPOLIS — Riverside Adventure Park is opening soon.
Indy Parks has revitalized one of the city's most historic parks with new playground equipment and trials while highlighting nature in the central part of the Circle City.
Indy Parks hope it will encourage folks of all ages to go outside, get active and reduce stress.
The project has been in the works since 2017.
"This is a major project," said Indy Park's spokesperson Alex Cortwright. "New green space. If you live near downtown and in the center township area, there's not always a whole lot of great green space because of just all the development."
Cortwright says what once was part of a golf course now becomes a new opportunity.
"An opportunity to check out some new trails within a park. It's a great place to clear your head and see some nature really. It's just a quality of life boost," said Cortwright.
Cortwright said the four miles of new trails, new shelters, fitness and playground equipment is part of a $36 million dollar investment.
"Even though it's broken up a little bit by the river, it actually has more acres than Central Park in New York," said Cortwright. "We'll have a new nature playground that will be great for kids to come out and enjoy after that. Folks will be able to rent out the shelters and use those for everything from family to corporate or business events, things like that. Just again, really great opportunity to get out in nature and enjoy it. We've got some outdoor fitness equipment too. Like I said, four miles of trail is really easy to get a great work out in whether you're running, walking, biking."
Cortwright said Riverside Adventure park will feature amenities visitors won't find at other parks in Indianapolis.
"The archery range that future phase, for example, we don't have anything like that in the Indy Park system. There are very few, even across the state, that exist," he said.
Neighbors, like Miss Terry, are looking forward to the upgrades.
"When I was a little kid, my parents and grandparents used to bring us over to the play in the park," she said.
She's now recreating those memories. She visits the park daily, something she wasn't comfortable doing in the past.
"It makes me feel good because I come over here and go walking and it's safe now. Before it had got a little rough," she said.
She hopes Riverside Adventure Park will be a safe haven for others.
"For the older seniors to sit in the house all day, to the young kids that's tired of sitting in the house playing games all day. You got to come out here and get some recreational," she said.
A ribbon cutting will be held on May 1st. Phase two of the project will begin next year.
