Construction on the park upgrades began last summer in an effort to enhance security in the park, which is located less than a mile from The Road Home emergency homeless shelter in the Rio Grande neighborhood and has long been seen as a hub for illegal activity and drug use.
The total cost for improvements was just under $1 million, with $300,000 provided by the Pioneer Park Coalition, which advocates for the downtown neighborhood, and the rest coming from the city’s capital improvement program and the Redevelopment Agency, according to the city.
“Together we’ve finished the first step of this project,” Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski said at a news conference at the park Tuesday evening as children kicked a soccer ball around on the new field behind her.