Demolition at the former Rodney Street Reservoir in Wilmington is complete, green lighting a park project slated for completion next spring.
More than 20 years after the reservoir closed to the public, construction on the new community park is underway.
In 2022 the City announced plans to privately develop the space, but pushback from residents altered those plans, resulting in a $2 million park project.
Mayor Mike Purzycki says regardless of how the site was repurposed, his goal was to eliminate safety concerns.
“I was not going to let this dangerous, beat up old reservoir sit there," he says. "And there’s a large building on it, all these things were kind of an attractive nuisance for kids and everything else, I just didn’t want to have a dangerous situation over there.”
Despite the restrictions, some residents began using it as a community garden in 2010, and Purzycki says the new park will bring back a space to recreate that garden.
“We had these beautiful railings all around it, beautiful fencing, and behind it was nothing but a big old neglected weed patch because it was too dangerous to go up there and walk on that property," Purzycki says.
The park will also host outdoor classrooms, a tree-lined forest area with pathways for walking and jogging, and natural play equipment for children.
The park will be the first city-managed park in Wilmington in 40 years and will also include an overlook plaza at the same elevation as the previous reservoir tank.
