Construction Begins on Newark’s Broadway Park After Six-Year Effort
Construction began June 25 on Broadway Park in Newark’s North Ward, starting the next phase of a six-year effort to convert abandoned lots beside Luis Muñoz Marín Elementary School into public open space.
Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and the Trust for Public Land marked the groundbreaking for the planned park. The project is intended to provide space for outdoor learning, physical activity and community engagement near the elementary school.
The site is not yet a completed or open park. Construction is expected to continue until spring 2027, when the city anticipates the project will be finished.
A park next to the school
Broadway Park will occupy abandoned lots adjacent to Luis Muñoz Marín Elementary School. The City of Newark has described the planned park as an extension of the school, linking the school’s educational activities with outdoor space for students and the surrounding community.
That school-adjacent location is central to the project’s purpose. The planned uses include outdoor learning and physical activity, along with community engagement. The park is also intended to function as a public green space for the neighborhood rather than as a completed school facility alone.
For Newark residents, the construction represents a change in the intended use of the lots. Land that has been described by the city as abandoned is being prepared for a public project with both school-related and neighborhood uses.
City and community partners involved
The project brings together the City of Newark, the Trust for Public Land and Newark Public Schools. Neighborhood organizations and other local partners are also involved in the effort.
Mayor Baraka’s participation in the groundbreaking places the city at the center of the construction start. The Trust for Public Land is another lead partner, while the school district and neighborhood organizations connect the project to the nearby school and the surrounding community.
The six-year preparation period underscores that the groundbreaking is a milestone in a long-planned neighborhood investment, not the completion of the project. The work now moves from preparation into construction at the North Ward site.
Funding and expected completion
Funding is coming in part through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres Program and through private philanthropy. The city has identified those public and private sources as contributors to the project.
The announced completion target is spring 2027. The city has not provided a more detailed construction schedule in its public announcement, so the spring target is the clearest publicly stated timetable for the work.
Until construction is complete, Broadway Park remains a project under development. The next major step is the construction work itself, followed by the expected opening of the finished public green space in spring 2027.
When completed, the planned park will add a public open-space use beside Luis Muñoz Marín Elementary School and provide a setting for outdoor learning, physical activity and community engagement. Its progress will determine when those intended uses can begin at the North Ward site.
Sources
- Mayor Baraka breaks ground for Broadway Park in North Ward, City of Newark
- City of Newark and Trust for Public Land start construction, City of Newark
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