PRESS RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JASON SILVA, CHIEF OF STAFF
JULY 9, 2010 (978) 744-9595 ext. 5603
Celebrate the South River Harborwalk grand opening
SALEM – Mayor Kimberley Driscoll is pleased to invite the public to celebrate the grand opening of the South River Harborwalk and Peabody Street Park on Thursday, July 15 at 3 p.m.
Mayor Driscoll and Lt. Governor Timothy Murray will be presiding over the festivities, which will include the creation of a Ceremonial Community Wreath, art displays by local artists and live entertainment.
“The grand opening of the South River Harborwalk signifies a huge step forward in Salem’s Municipal Harbor Plan,” said Mayor Driscoll. “This will be the first of several waterfront walkways and it will provide a pleasant way to get from Derby Street to the Congress Street Bridge.”
The South River Harborwalk, which covers 1,200 feet of the western and southern banks of the South River Basin, includes a small public plaza at the Derby Street Entrance that functions as a gateway from downtown into the Harborwalk. Other amenities include the installation of benches, lighting, solar powered trash receptacles, landscaping, ship’s mast flagpole, and three interpretive signs discussing the history of the South River as a former tidal estuary to Salem Harbor that was filled during the 18th and 19th centuries. Infrastructure repairs were also made to the existing seawall.
The project was funded by a $1,336,000 grant from the Governor’s Seaport Advisory Council. The grant required a 20% local match, which the City covered using Community Development Block Grant Funding.
Along with the opening of the Harborwalk, the City will also be celebrating the opening of a new waterfront park at 15 Peabody Street. The new park is a former Brownfield Site that the City acquired by tax default. The Peabody Street park includes a colorful rubber surfaced playground area, game tables, grass gathering mound, benches, lighting. A cement seating wall, running throughout the park, is decorated with art tiles painted by local children at the Salem YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, and Gables Settlement, and a canopy wall for outdoor entertainment.
“The park at 15 Peabody Street shows the great potential in Brownfield sites,” said Mayor Driscoll. “By using the various funding sources available for this type of work, the City was able to take a vacant and unusable parcel of land and turn it into a community asset.”
An Environmental Protection Agency Assessment Grant was used to investigate the property; EPA’s Clean-Up Grant funded site clean-up; and a DCR Urban Self-Help Grant and Community Development Block Grant Funds funded park development. The total cost of the project was $750,000.
Salem residents played key roles in the design and construction of these two projects: Salem resident Michael Blier of Landworks Studio designed the 15 Peabody Street Park; Salem marine contractors, North Shore Marine constructed the majority of the South River Harborwalk and performed all the marine infrastructure repairs to the bulkhead wall and granite seawall; and Salem resident Susan St. Pierre of Vine Associates was instrumental in the planning and permitting stage of the both the Harborwalk and Park.
The South River Harborwalk was designed and engineered by Vine Associates of Newburyport and constructed by North Shore Marine of Salem and Quirk Construction of Georgetown.
The 15 Peabody Street Park was designed by Landworks Studio of Boston, engineered by Vine Associates, environmental and remedial services were provided by TRC of Lowell and construction was done by Quirk Construction.
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