Freshly planted trees and new pavers are easily visible through the chain-link fence that is keeping people out of Downtown Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Riverfront Park while renovations are underway.
Work is nearly completed, with a ribbon cutting scheduled for Thursday morning.
Riverlife, a nonprofit dedicated to maintaining and activating Pittsburgh’s riverfronts, last spring kicked off a $5.4 million revitalization project for the park space overlooking the Allegheny River.
The park, which spans three blocks Downtown, was constructed in 2001.
The recent renovations replaced aging bluestone pavers, added 35 trees and installed new lights and bollards, Riverlife CEO Matthew Galluzzo told TribLive ahead of the ribbon cutting.
The upgrades also created spots on each of the park’s four corners to host events, Galluzzo said. Those spaces could host food trucks when fans flock to the area for Pirates games or welcome additional vendors for the city’s annual arts festival.
“The park is really going to be much more open to programming, which we’re super excited about,” Galluzzo said.
Work will be finished before the Pirates home opener on Friday and the NFL Draft, which has spurred a slew of beautification efforts throughout the Golden Triangle.
While Allegheny Riverfront Park will have “limited programming” during the draft, Galluzzo said, football fans walking to the event’s footprint in the North Shore and Point State Park will likely walk through the green space. It’s situated near Arts Landing, a new outdoor civic space set to bring grassy lawns, playgrounds and a band shell for outdoor performances. That attraction, too, is scheduled to open before the NFL comes to town.
As crews gave Allegheny Riverfront Park a facelift, they also took “great care” to maintain the space’s original character, Galluzzo said. Designing the original park was among the first urban projects undertaken by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, which would later be known for projects like the Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The bluestone, a decorative type of paver used to form the park’s walkways, had deteriorated. Crews replaced it with a denser, more durable form of bluestone that Galluzzo hopes will better stand up to the test of time.
“We’re creating a real nod to the history of the park, while also recognizing the park needs to be more resilient moving forward,” Galluzzo said. “Some real care went into these elements.”
To ensure Allegheny Riverfront Park — and other riverfront trails and greenspaces — is well-maintained well into the future, Riverlife has also launched an initiative called UpKeep. UpKeep is a multimillion-dollar endowment that will fund sustained maintenance on 15 miles of riverfront parks, trails and greenspaces. Riverlife is expected to complete $6 million in maintenance services in the next decade through the program.
“One of the things we’ve heard loud and clear as an organization is that it’s one thing to build these spaces,” Galluzzo said. “It’s an entirely other thing to make sure people’s expectations are met when they come to those spaces.”
Galluzzo said he’s eager to welcome visitors to the revitalized riverfront park.
“We hope the public will appreciate the care and beauty that we have created in this space,” he said. “We’re really proud of it.”
The park upgrades are part of a broader effort Riverlife has undertaken to strengthen connections between Downtown and its Cultural District and the amenities the North Shore offers across the river. The organization is homing in on the area between the city’s iconic three Sister Bridges.
The next step of that larger vision will be a facelift for Allegheny Landing on the North Shore side of the river. Galluzzo hopes to start work there later this year.
“You can imagine by the time we get to 2028 — which is the hundred-year anniversary of the sister bridges — that you’re going to have these amazing spaces,” he said.
