photo by: Shawn Valverde

Work to construct an expansion at the southeast corner of Centennial Skate Park was still underway Friday, Dec. 29, 2023. In this drone photo, the new construction is to the right.

Construction work on a $250,000 expansion project at Centennial Skate Park is nearing completion, and skaters likely won’t have to wait long after the start of the new year to break it in.

Parks and Recreation assistant director Mark Hecker told the Journal-World Thursday that construction at the park had gone smoothly since it began in mid-November. At that time, the city anticipated that the addition would be complete by the end of 2023.

That estimate has almost held true. While construction will be ongoing past the start of 2024, project manager Ben Hlavacek told the Journal-World concrete work should be done in the next week.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Construction workers continue to work on the expansion at Centennial Skate Park on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023.

“The City of Lawrence and Parks and Rec have been good to work with, and really helpful to facilitate the project,” Hlavacek said. “And we had some really nice weather throughout December, too, with some high temperatures above average. At this point, we’re mostly complete right now with construction.”

Original plans for the expansion called for it to integrate “street-style” elements like benches, stairs, handrails and other architecture a skater might come across on a city street. Hlavacek said while some of those elements are there, he wouldn’t exactly describe the expansion as exclusively a “street-style plaza.”

That’s because the expansion also includes a bowl — a type of feature which generally looks like an in-ground swimming pool — and new ramps like a “pyramid hip,” which are raised sections with multiple banked walls.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Construction workers continue to work on the expansion at Centennial Skate Park, which is expected to wrap up after the new year.

Hlavacek has the benefit of prior familiarity with Centennial Skate Park because the contractor he works for, Evergreen Skateparks, completed the last expansion there back in 2021. He said the park has changed a lot in the two years since then, especially considering the other big addition from earlier this year — the $50,000 vertical ramp installed in the spring following a successful crowdfunding campaign.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Hlavacek said. “I know (the ramp’s) been drawing people from out of state, even, to come skate in Lawrence. I think that having new concrete stuff at the skate park is totally going to draw people. Lawrence is basically going to have one of the better facilities in the state for skateboarding after this year, with all of these improvements.”

Hecker said a precise finish date at this point depends on the weather, but he’s anticipating the park will be ready for use by mid-January. Recent precipitation has caused muddy conditions in the areas around the concrete that are still due for backfill work, which otherwise possibly could have been completed by the end of this week.

At any rate, Hecker said the renovated skate park will soon be “quite the attraction” for Lawrence.

“It’s basically doubled the size of the skate park,” Hecker said. “That plus the vert ramp we put in during the summer, we’ve really upgraded the whole skate facility down there. … What’s exciting is the vert ramp plus what we’re doing with the main skate park, I think we’re going to be a little bit more of a regional attraction. I think people will come to town to skate that park just because it’s kind of unique.”