A new park will line the Beerline Trail extension in the Riverwest and Harambee neighborhoods, according to a news release from the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

Hood Design Studio, led by Walter Hood, will design the linear park along the section of the trail from N. Richards Street to the Capitol Drive overpass. This section of the path opened in August 2015. A design concept for the park will be completed this year.

The project is the next phase of a two-year Kresge Foundation Harvesting Leading Practices grant. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fund for Lake Michigan have also supported the trail project.

Based on feedback from residents and stakeholders, the park's design will focus on water quality, healthy food, arts, cultural exchange and other sustainable living options. Hood, an artist and landscape designer from Oakland, Calif., was selected to design the area that will help the goal of growing a neighborhood-based creative district.

“Above and beyond its more obvious use as a pedestrian and bicycle connector, we are interested in the idea of the Beerline Trail’s potential for creating an urban spectacle,” Hood said. “We want to celebrate the site, make the invisible visible, invite and surprise the users in addition to cementing and enhancing the neighborhood’s identity.”

The Beerline Trail extension was a switching station for the Milwaukee railroad.

“The site and the train as a symbol transformed from an economic and cultural resource to a neglected space. Now we have the opportunity to find ways for this space to become, again, a contemporary cultural and economic resource – a symbol with as much power as the train once held,” said Hood.

Hood will be in Milwaukee to give the keynote presentation for University of Wisconsin-MIlwaukee's Urban Edge Award April 15.

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