SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A groundbreaking was held Monday for a 2.6-acre neighborhood park in Southcrest.
The park in the economically disadvantaged community will include an amphitheater, basketball court, skate park, and jogging/walking trails with exercise stations.
Called Southcrest Trails Neighborhood Park, the $3 million facility will also feature security lighting, children's play areas, benches, picnic areas and shelters, barbecues, landscaping and irrigation, and public artwork, according to Civic San Diego, a city agency assisting with the project.
The property is the last undeveloped part of 66 acres cleared away in 1972 to build a freeway. The highway project was abandoned six years later after community protests, and most of the land has since been filled in by homes, commercial development and a school.
"The park represents the final piece of a magnificent puzzle that reclaims land for the benefit of the community, rather than a proposed freeway once called the 252 Corridor," said Reese Jarrett, president and CEO of Civic San Diego.
He said the park should be open by this time next year.
