CINCINNATI, Ohio — Fourteen years after its dedication, Smale Riverfront Park is essentially complete. City officials and donors celebrated what was billed as the final chapter of the downtown park on Tuesday, Nov. 10, announcing the completion of a $5.5 million addition on the north side of Mehring Way, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
The new section sits immediately east of the Andrew J. Brady Music Center and includes seating, planting beds, engraved donor walls, granite walkways and sandstone cladding on the wall along Mehring Way, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Donors have been key to Smale’s development from the start. The park is among Cincinnati’s most costly, with a price tag of $105 million that rises to $110.5 million with the new space, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. The family of former Procter & Gamble CEO John Smale donated $20 million, the Cincinnati Parks Foundation raised $40 million, and donations came from 1,500 individuals, according to park officials cited by The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Donors were also critical to the new section: the foundation collected $4.5 million from 150 Cincinnati families and businesses for the work, while the city provided the other $1 million, Lisa Diedrichs, chair of the foundation board and John Smale’s granddaughter, told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
That private money changed the finish of the project. “There was a chance this park was going to be finished with concrete,” Diedrichs told The Cincinnati Enquirer, explaining that donations allowed the park system to complete the new section with high-end materials so it matches the rest of Smale.
“This is the most important park in the city,” Molly North, president of the Park Board, told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “It is the front door of the city. It tells people about our values.” The addition will also complement plans calling for additional investment in The Banks and capped roadways over Fort Washington Way, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
One piece of work remains, and it is outside the city’s control: erosion repairs along the Ohio River. Smale will not be done in full until the federal government delivers dollars the city has been promised to fix that erosion, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Park officials have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on plans to shore up about 1,200 feet of riverfront for about a decade, and Congress approved $15 million in federal dollars for the work in 2016, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. On Nov. 10, park officials could not say when the dollars will come or when the work will be completed.
Photo: Jeffery Roberts, CC BY-SA