When Unity Park opened in Grand Rapids’ Roosevelt Park neighborhood on Oct. 14, it brought hammocks, play areas and gathering space to a site with a history residents still recognize. The park also carries that history into its design: the steeple from the former St. Joseph the Worker Church now serves as a bulletin kiosk, while the church’s organ pipes have been repurposed as a water sculpture. The neighborhood’s past is part of the new place people can use each day.
The City of Grand Rapids announced the official opening the next day. City and community leaders gathered for the ribbon cutting, closing a project the City says was designed with resident input to reflect the area’s culture and history. The City invested $2.23 million, with support from the Michigan Enhancement Grant and the Parks Capital Fund. Its announcement lists community organizations, schools, nonprofits and local institutions among the project partners.
For Eleanor Moreno, a Grand Rapids School Board member who represents the Neighborhood Partners Committee, community participation was central to the work. In an interview with WGVU, Moreno described her role as a neighbor who wanted to bring residents’ voices into what would happen on a large, empty lot. The City also says the design was intended to reflect the neighborhood’s culture and history.
That shared process mattered to residents who spoke with WOOD TV8 at the opening. Keyshawn Bass, who said he had lived in the neighborhood for most of his life, described the park as part of a changing landscape and welcomed a new place for children in his family to spend time. His reaction was rooted in a personal connection: the neighborhood, he said, had helped raise him.
Tequita Culbreath, another neighbor quoted by WOOD, said she had taken part in the community-input process. She hoped the park would make it easier for neighbors and children to get to know one another. Culbreath described it as something the neighborhood had a hand in shaping, not a project belonging to one person. The reporting offers a specific view of resident participation alongside the City’s broader statement that community input informed the design.
The finished park pairs places to play with quieter spots to sit together. The City lists inclusive play spaces, hammock groves, community seating, a flexible gathering area with vendor spaces and café-style seating under a shaded tree grove. Other features include a rain garden, additional tree canopy, improved lighting, bike paths and drinking fountains with bottle-filling stations. The mix gives the space several everyday uses, from active play to meeting a neighbor or taking a break in the shade.
The church features connect those ordinary uses to a place that once served as a gathering point. WGVU reported that the church steeple became a bulletin kiosk and that organ pipes were painted and turned into the water feature. Moreno described the opening as bittersweet because the park aims to honor what came before. She also expressed hope that children would make the new park their own after school. That is a hope she expressed, not a claim about how the park is already being used.
The project brought together public funding and local organizations. Along with the city funds, the City named Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities, the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association, Grand Rapids Public Schools, Viridis Design Group, Aligned Planning, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, Habitat for Humanity of Kent County, Dwelling Place, the Hispanic Center of West Michigan, Ferris State University and Trinity Health as partners. The City characterized the opening as part of the ongoing redevelopment of Roosevelt Park; WOOD also noted that new affordable housing and Southwest Middle High School have opened in the area in recent years.
Unity Park’s opening is a tangible result of a long planning process, but its measure will be in the everyday moments it makes room for: a child on the play equipment, a neighbor resting beneath the trees, or people meeting at the gathering space. The reporting does not establish how often each feature will be used, and the park’s future role is still unfolding. What the sources do show is a new public space shaped with neighborhood input and designed to make room for play, connection and visible reminders of local history.
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