Parks & Greenspace

For over 150 years, Cleveland's nickname has been The Forest City. Cleveland has a long history of preserving parks for public use and building direct access to our great parks from the city's neighborhoods. DCA is continuing that great tradition of preserving and creating new parks in order to improve the quality of life for Downtown stakeholders and the entire region.

Chester Commons

• Chester Commons (also known as Perk Park) is in the midst of a multi-million dollar renovation. Once completed, the new park will feature more open and more programmable space for the surrounding neighborhood to use. The old design for the park was not inviting for residents and employees. With nearly 3,000 residents living within a 3 minute walk of the park, it was crucial to create a public space that reflected the needs of the neighborhood and was seen as an asset, not an eye-sore.

  Cleveland City Council, ParkWorks and Downtown Cleveland Alliance worked together to raise the money to move the project forward.  For more on this exciting project, click here (ParkWorks Website)

Canal Basin District Park Plan

• Over 140 miles of contiguous parkway, bike paths and trails wind their way through the communities that surround Downtown, yet none of those paths are connected directly to Downtown. In the next 5 years, that will all change!

  DCA has been working with the Ohio Canal Corridor on the creation of the Canal Basin District Plan, which extends the last leg of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail into Downtown Cleveland and creates a new signature park on the banks of the Cuyahoga River called Canal Basin Park. In addition to the park, the plan coordinates necessary linkages to nearby neighborhoods.

  The park and its trail linkages will become the northern terminus of both the Towpath Trail and the 110 mile Ohio & Erie Canalway.

  For more information on the next steps towards implementing the Canal Basin District Plan and the larger Towpath Trail project contact Tom Yablonsky at tyablonsky@dcacleveland.net or 216-736-7799.  For a map of the overall Canal Basin District Plan, click here (PDF - 4.42 MB)

Public Square & The Mayor's Group Plan Commission

• Public Square is Cleveland's most prominent public space and the heart of our Downtown. However, in its current configuration, the square does not serve the growing city that surrounds it well. The current design is exceedingly unfriendly to both pedestrians and motorists hoping to navigate through the center of Downtown and is difficult to program for special events.

  In late 2009, after initial feedback from the community and a recent traffic study, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, ParkWorks and Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative unveiled a set of preliminary, early-stage drawings by internationally recognized James Corner Field Operations. The purpose of these renderings was to inspire the conversation about what Cleveland's Public Square should become and what role it should play in the future growth of our City. To see the full presentation of the designs, click here ***

  The Mayor's Group Plan Commission

  In the months that followed the release of these designs, the City of Cleveland began a larger discussion about the redesign of public spaces in Downtown, including Public Square. The major driving force behind these discussions was the redevelopment of Cleveland's Convention Center and the reconstruction of Downtown's Malls. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson appointed a 15-member Group Plan Commission to give the city recommendations on the design of the malls and the connections to other major Downtown districts. Several DCA and Downtown stakeholders are members of this commission, which will give its recommendations in the early part of 2011.

  In order to help facilitate a comprehensive design for public space, DCA has submitted the design concepts as part of the overall strategy to ensure that a cohesive strategy for both Public Square and the Malls is generated by the commission. In addition, several DCA board members have been appointed to the Group Plan Commission.

  We will keep you updated as to the progress on this exciting project. Sign up to receive updates from DCA via our monthly e-newsletter here ***