RCC Associates sponsors reopening of Huizenga Park, builds Sweetwaters
Fort Lauderdale residents and city officials are celebrating the grand reopening of Huizenga Park on Saturday and Sunday with music, performances, poetry, yoga classes, a community market and other events organized by the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, the independent agency that owns and operates the park. Immediately after elected officials and city leaders ceremoniously cut the ribbon, the park was busy with kids running around, dogs playing, performers juggling and neighbors chatting.
“From the very beginning, this project was guided by a simple but powerful idea to create an iconic park for everyone forever that is uniquely Fort Lauderdale,” said Steve Hudson, the Huizenga Park Foundation chair. “When you look around, we’ve done just that. Huizenga Park has emerged as everyone’s living room, dining room and backyard.”
The park’s redesign, which began about four years ago, aimed to reflect the needs and wants of the community, said James Philips, the Perkins&Will lead landscape architect. The park is sectioned into several “outdoor rooms” meant to make visitors feel at home, including the dog park, seating areas to eat and drink, an open lawn and Poppy’s Play Patch, a section of small grassy mounds for children to run and roll around. A Mr. Smash Burgers food truck opened Saturday. Sweetwaters, a sit-down restaurant on the park’s property, will open this year.
