INDIANAPOLIS — A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Monday for an expansion at a popular Marion County park.
It's a $2.1 million project at the Indianapolis World Sports Park on Post Road on the southeast side. The 46-acre facility is home to three sports fields where people play soccer, cricket, lacrosse, hurling and rugby.
Now it's getting a new concession pavilion, restrooms and a paved parking lot.
The project is being funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment. It's actually the first of many grants for park projects taking shape around Indianapolis this year.
"These historic investments in sports facilities and fields will provide residents, really, of all ages across the city, greater opportunities to play the sports that they love," said Phyllis Boyd, Indy Parks director.
A gift from Lilly Endowment totaling $80 million will pay for improvements to dozens of Indianapolis parks.
Here's how the grants will be allocated:
- $71.9 million to the City of Indianapolis Department of Parks & Recreation to support improvements in 42 parks located in all nine townships of Marion County.
- $2.6 million to the Eagle Creek Park Foundation to support improvements at the west side park.
- $2.5 million to the Friends of Garfield Park to support improvements at the south side park.
- $3 million to the Holliday Park Foundation to support improvements at the north side park.
“This gift from the endowment is of a magnitude that I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around it,” said Boyd. “But it's really incredible. We've had a very detailed to-do list for a while. So basically it just means that we can get more done on that to-do list."
The project design and construction schedule will run through 2025.