News

Nov 07, 2024

Will the Sawyer Point playground reopen?

Cincinnati Parks will rebuild the playground at its fire-damaged Sawyer Point Park downtown, but cannot yet say when that will happen. The 1000 Hands Playground at the park, built in 2003, was

Cincinnati Parks will rebuild the playground at its fire-damaged Sawyer Point Park downtown, but cannot yet say when that will happen.

The 1000 Hands Playground at the park, built in 2003, was destroyed in a Nov. 1 early-morning fire that damaged the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge and closed Interstate 471 over the Ohio River.

Parks reopened part of Sawyer Point on Wednesday, including the western lawn and southern path along the river. It also reopened 12 pickleball courts, after allowing access to the other 12 on Tuesday.

The 1000 Hands Playground site remains off-limits, since it “poses a safety risk until the temporary shoring and bridge repairs are completed,” Parks spokesman Rocky Merz said in an email.

Transportation officials said Wednesday that contractors are finalizing designs for the shoring equipment to stabilize the bridge. Installation of the towers should follow early next week, according to a Wednesday press release from the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the city of Cincinnati.

As for the playground, Cincinnati Parks intends to “fully rehabilitate this section of the parks,” Merz said.

It will not likely be in the same spot, however, since it would be “hard to imagine anyone proposing rebuilding a playgroup in that location under the bridge.”

Parks will work with transportation officials to determine where to install a new playground.

“It is far too early to know exactly what this design will look like, what the community wants, how the playground will be laid out, what the cost will be or when this work will take place,” he said. “A project like this would be expected to take several months, if not years, depending on factors such as funding availability.”

The playground, reduced to debris and rubble that has not yet been removed, featured steamboat-themed play structures, with swings, a playhouse, monkey bars and a rock wall. The play structures were made of composite wood and sat on a maroon-colored Poured-in-Place brand rubber surface.

The Cincinnati Recreation Commission built it during the years it managed Sawyer Point and the adjacent Yeatman’s Cove on the riverfront. Cincinnati Parks took over management in 2011.

The playground was an attraction of Sawyer Point Park, dedicated in June 1988 to celebrate the city's bicentennial. In addition to the playground and pickleball courts, it includes tennis and volleyball courts; landscaping and walking paths; public sculptures and other art; an outdoor stage called the Procter & Gamble Pavilion; and Riverfront Rink, billed as the nation’s largest outdoor rollerskating rink.

Sawyer Point was named for Cincinnati native Charles Sawyer (1887-1979), a lawyer and politician who served as a Cincinnati City Council member, Ohio lieutenant governor, U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg. Sawyer, who is buried in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery, gave the city $1 million to buy 123 acres of riverfront property to establish Sawyer Point Park.

The cause of last week’s fire, meanwhile, has not been determined. The Cincinnati Fire Department investigations unit is leading the probe.

The fire broke out around 3:20 a.m., with 40-foot flames causing a "substantial amount of damage" to the southbound side of the bridge, officials said.

Northbound I-471 reopened the night of Nov. 1. The southbound span remains closed.