Temporary Arts Plaza Project Begins in Brooklyn Park
Brooklyn Park, North Hennepin Community College and other officials broke ground on a temporary arts plaza. The plaza is on the corner of 85th and West Broadway next to the Brooklyn Park Library. The plaza acts as a placeholder for a more permanent plaza that will go up once the Blue Line Light Rail Extension gets built.
This summer the land will transform into a multi-use space with a performance stage designed by local artists.the city will install crushed granite pathways, trees, shade structures and aggregate surfacing for a food truck area.
The city says the plan is to see how people use the temporary space. Then, they’ll compile that information to guide how to build the permanent plaza.
“There is gonna be a plaza here. There is gonna be a college building here,” says Brooklyn Park Mayor Jeffrey Lunde. “How can we do something that’s kinda unique and kinda celebrates… Not just have a grassy corner that people drive by but have something that people will enjoy.”
Future plans call for the site to be a full theater and arts destination for North Hennepin Community College. It will be called Center for Innovation and the Arts (CITA) with a permanent public plaza.
“CITA will provide students more access and opportunity to purse an associate’s and bachelor’s degree through our partnership with Metropolitan State University, and advance cultural engagement with our neighboring communities,” said NHCC President Barbara McDonald in a press release.
The temporary plaza project is a joint-funding imitative including Hennepin county and the McKnight foundation.
