Philly breaks ground on new 10-acre waterfront park in Bridesburg

The site of a former concrete factory in Bridesburg, now a multi-acre concrete slab rimmed by woods, has an unbroken view of the Delaware River with the Betsy Ross Bridge as a backdrop.

On Tuesday, Philadelphia and other officials broke ground at the site for the first phase of the 10-acre Robert A. Borski Jr. Park, designed with a wide-open lawn, upland trails, meadow, restrooms, and parking. The park is part of a city effort to reconnect city residents with the river they were severed from starting in the 1800s with construction of the Kensington & Tacony rail line.

The park off Orthodox Street is the final in a series of eight planned parks for a stretch of the waterfront known as the Riverfront North Greenway.

The first phase of Borski Park, now under construction, should be complete by 2025 at a cost of about $7 million, raised through public and private sources. A second phase, which has no scheduled start, is expected to cost about $3.7 million and will include a stage, picnic pavilion, terraced lawn seating, and boardwalk with river views.

The nonprofit Riverfront North worked with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to raise the money and build the park.

“It’s very humbling,” Borski, 74, said of having the park named after him. “I will take way more joy when it’s completed and can see people using it. It will be a major attraction, particularly for the neighborhood, but also everybody in the city.”

Borski grew up in Bridesburg and served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Congress in 1982, where he served until 2003 and later formed a lobbying firm.

Borski founded the Delaware River City Corp., which became the Riverfront North Partnership. The park was named after him in recognition of his vision for the waterfront and raising funds. Borski is credited with bringing in $45 million for the trail, boat launches, and parks.

Borski Park will connect with other local waterfront trails and become a link in the larger Circuit Trails, a regional network of 375 miles of completed trails, as well as a segment for the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile trail planned from Florida to Maine.

» READ MORE: Waterfront trail with views of Delaware River opens in Tacony — two decades in the making

Mayor Jim Kenney said that the goal is to restore the river “as a treasured public space.”

“We can all agree that reliable access to safe, enriching, outdoor space is important, an important factor for growth and equity in any major city and we want every Philadelphia resident to have best in class neighborhood assets,” Kenney said. “All residents need safe places to come together.”

Stephanie Phillips, executive director of Riverfront North, called the park “truly a community accomplishment” at least a decade in the making.

“It has taken a coalition of support from our elected officials, local government, state government, federal government, private foundations, and most importantly neighborhood residents to get here today,” Phillips said.

The ground for the park was originally acquired by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. (PIDC), a nonprofit formed by the city and Chamber of Commerce as an economic development corporation. The city now owns the property.

Jim Fries, the project manager for Riverfront North, said there’s “a fair amount of cleanup” needed for the first phase, which is being built by the Camden County-based JPC Group.

Fries said a cap of 1½ to 2 feet with draining needs to be built for the main lawn. An adjoining upland forest and meadow that sits atop what was once fill will get trails and terraced steps leading down to the lawn.