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June 1, 2018

Parts of Spokane's Riverfront Park reopen as $65M update progresses

Aerial photos by Fly with Beck [enlarge]
NAC Architecture designed a new building to house the Looff Carrousel, a hand-carved wooden carousel built in 1909.

Seattle-based Berger Partnership is lead landscape architect and urban designer for the project, which covers 20 acres of the 100-acre park.

Portions of the $65 million revitalization of Spokane's Riverfront Park have been completed.

The park — site of the Expo '74 World's Fair — sits along the Spokane River. The historic Looff Carrousel is now open again as well as the restored Rotary Fountain, a new bridge for Howard Street and the South Bank.

Seattle-based Berger Partnership is the lead landscape architect and urban designer for the project, which covers 20 acres of the 100-acre park. The park hasn't had a major update since 1973.

NAC Architecture designed and did electrical engineering for a new building near the water that now houses the Looff Carrousel. The hand-carved wooden carousel was built in 1909, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. A team led by Spokane local Bette Largent did the restoration.

Jacobs (Spokane) was structural and civil engineer for replacing a 100-year-old crossing with the new Howard Street Bridge. The new bridge has steel benches and a grated overlook above the river. It is the first phase of a promenade through the park that is expected to be complete by the end of 2019.

Work also includes renovating the US Pavilion, now under construction, and developing the North Bank and West Havermale Island, which are in the planning stage.

In a press release, Berger Partnership said the design draws inspiration from the river and the site's history hosting Expo '74, the first environmentally themed world's fair.

The goal is to restore the river ecology and connect it to the park, creating a new north-south connection through downtown. Expanses of asphalt at the shoreline were replaced by riparian plantings that reach inland to meet the carrousel.

A boardwalk bridges the newly revealed shoreline, which is dotted with 30-ton granite boulders for seating.

The site already had a mature tree canopy, but plantings, lawns, stone and concrete pavers, and native basalt walls and benches have been added to recall historic park structures in Spokane.

The consultant team includes Land Expressions, local landscape architect and fountain design; Walker Construction, lead contractor; Clearwater Summit Group, landscape contractor; and Hill International, project management.




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