Long-awaited Naperville Riverwalk park now under construction

An old strip-style building used to occupy a prime riverside property next to the retro Burger King in Naperville.

The southern entrance into the city’s downtown now makes more of an inviting impression, with a new Washington Street bridge over the DuPage River, a revived fountain in Fredenhagen Park and the start of construction on a long-awaited park north of the “Home of the Whopper.”

The North Central College Riverwalk Park will offer a new gathering space on the east side of Washington. An arched college monument sign will also be installed as a “gateway feature.”

The project’s start “marks the realization of a vision” the college had when it bought the triangular property more than a decade ago, said North Central President Abiódún Gòkè-Pariolá in a joint release Tuesday.

“We are grateful to the City of Naperville and the Naperville Park District for sharing our vision to enhance the Riverwalk and strengthen the College’s connection to and visibility within Downtown Naperville,” he added. “This is a wonderful example of public-private collaboration that will benefit the entire community.”

The project is estimated to cost $2.1 million. Funding is provided in part by $1.3 million from the state. The rest will come from the city’s capital project fund. Last month, the city council awarded the park construction contract to Baumgartner Construction, Inc.

Councilwoman Mary Gibson asked if the city was covering the cost of the school’s sign. Andy Hynes, deputy director of the Transportation, Engineering and Development department, responded that the city will be funding the installation of the sign foundation and the electric service, but the remainder of the sign, all the decorative elements, will be paid for by North Central.

“I do think the park is a huge improvement over what is there now and what many of us remember has been there in the past,” Gibson said.

It’s been on the drawing board for years. A state grant for the project was announced in 2014 by then-Gov. Pat Quinn alongside the late Mayor George Pradel.

In 2020, the city council endorsed the Riverwalk commission’s master plan, a road map for adding new attractions to the “treasured urban oasis” ahead of both the 50th anniversary of the Riverwalk and Naperville’s 200th birthday in 2031. The additional park is part of that plan.

“The elegantly sculpted riverbank, stabilized with structural and vegetative techniques, will provide panoramic views to Fredenhagen Park and the adjacent college campus,” the document reads.

The city has said work on the park was “deprioritized” to ensure the replacement of the Washington Street bridge reconstruction would be done before the park opened, according to a project timeline. The new bridge opened up to all lanes of traffic last summer.

The contractor has started excavation, Hynes told the Riverwalk commission earlier this month.

“This park will provide a new gateway for the College as well as extend the low-flow walkway from the recently completed Washington Street Bridge to the Moser Covered Bridge,” Hynes said in a statement. “It will also feature an accessible ramp between the river and street level.

“Combined with the South Extension Project that we hope to begin this fall, residents and visitors will soon be able to walk along this scenic section of the river with a new connection between the Edward Hospital campus and downtown Naperville.”

The park will also have benches and seat walls, as well as ornamental and native landscaping. It’s expected to open to the public by the end of October.