Pittsburgh Art Commission approves plan to redevelop East Liberty's Enright Park

The Civic Design Committee of Pittsburgh’s Art Commission has approved plans for a major redevelopment project at Enright Park in East Liberty.

The Department of City Planning in 2018 worked with community members to craft a master plan for the redevelopment of the park, which became part of a debate about redeveloping the Penn Avenue site where Penn Plaza Apartments once stood.

Ultimately, a new developer at the site agreed to provide $1 million in funding to redevelop the park, with the city chipping in $300,000.

Plans for the revamped park include a basketball court, a playground, picnic tables, a pavilion, lawn space and spray features, including a popular spray whale that had been at the park before, said Andrea Ketzel, a senior landscape architect with the city’s Department of Public Works and the project manager.

The park plan also includes handicap-accessible swings and spray features, as well as a court for bankshot, a basketball-style game that is meant to be played by people of all ages and abilities, Ketzel said.

City officials heard feedback from residents, including young people, about their desires for the park before crafting their plans, Ketzel said.

The park renovations will include a rain garden, as well as pedestrian-level lighting along pathways, the playground area and the athletic courts, she said.

Plans presented to the Art Commission on Wednesday also showed pavement games, a grill, a drinking fountain, benches and bike racks.

Officials are expecting to take construction bids in late spring or early summer, according to information provided by the commission.

“In the end, it could well be a better parklet than what was there originally,” Rick Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., wrote in a letter to commissioners voicing the organization’s support for the revamped park plan.