South City’s new Centennial Way Park South opens

And perhaps the most anticipated aspect is the skate park, which veers away from a traditional approach, designed to blend in with the surrounding area. In fact, many park goers may not even know it’s a skate park at first glance. 

After working with the skate community on improvements to Orange Memorial Park, city staff had laid the relational groundwork needed to solicit skate design input for Centennial Park, something Greg Mediati, director of Parks and Recreation, said is not as easy as it may seem.

“They are often hard to rally to have them become part of the bureaucratic process,” he said.

 Parks Manager Josh Richardson said the plaza-like design was done to integrate it seamlessly with the rest of the park. 

“One of the big things we hear from the skate community is that skate parks are an antiquated view of skating. They want more urban elements that are designed to both function for skateboarders and pedestrians,” he said. “They want places that feel organic … there is that feeling of, ‘We’re getting away with something.’”

Prior to the park, the land had only been developed into a trail, constructed around 2008.

Project discussions to expand into a more robust recreational area began in 2022, and after securing about $2.4 million in grant funding from the state, efforts quickly got underway, with community engagement, design and construction bidding all taking place during 2023, a quicker-than-average timeline for such an initiative. After some federal and matching funds from the city, the final project cost totaled about $6 million.

While construction underwent a relatively seamless process, the quick timeline — as stipulated by the grant conditions — created some challenges, such as ensuring infrastructure and compliance tasks by other agencies like Pacific Gas and Electric and Bay Area Rapid Transit were completed. 

But you wouldn’t know that by looking at the final product, which has a meticulously intentioned design, Richardson added. Low-impact activities, like the nature play area and pollinator garden, are on one end of the park, while the more sport-focused areas, like the skate park, are on the other end. The park also includes a pump track, outdoor classroom area, open lawn space, playgrounds and fitness equipment interspersed throughout the trail.

“There is lots of excitement from the community,” Mediati said. 

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