Grand Rapids opens $2.23 million Unity Park

Unity Park officially opened in Grand Rapids’ Roosevelt Park neighborhood on Oct. 14, 2026, making a new gathering and recreation space available to neighborhood residents and other visitors. City and community leaders marked the opening. The City of Grand Rapids says it invested $2.23 million in the project and that residents provided input on the design.

The park combines a flexible gathering area with vendor spaces and community seating, shaded café-style seating, and inclusive play spaces that include hammock groves and features for people of all ages. Other listed amenities include bike paths, lighting, drinking fountains with bottle-filling stations, a rain garden and an expanded tree canopy.

The city identifies the Michigan Enhancement Grant and Parks Capital Fund as sources that supported the project, but does not specify how much either contributed.

Parts of the former St. Joseph the Worker Church, which stood on the site, were incorporated into the park. WGVU reported that the church’s steeple was repurposed as a bulletin kiosk and its organ pipes became part of a water sculpture.

WGVU identified Eleanor Moreno as a Grand Rapids School Board member representing the Neighborhood Partners Committee. Moreno said her role was to amplify neighbors’ voices. She called the opening bittersweet and said the park has “beautiful elements” that honor what came before.