SPRINGFIELD – Once where there had been a parking lot a new park now stands.

City officials gathered at the Connecticut River Bikeway/Walkway near the North End Bridge to officially open North Riverfront Park on Oct. 27.

The park has picnic tables, improved lighting, a gazebo, access to the bikeway/walkway and landscaped areas as well as some parking and is adjacent to the former Bassett Boat Company building, which is now the home of the Pioneer Valley Rowing Club.

Mayor Domenic Sarno called the new park “a crown jewel.”

The mayor added the project has cost $1.5 million so far with two more phases to complete it. Funding for the project came from a $1.2 million grant from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which was then matched with $300,000 from the city.

Executive Director of the Department of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management Patrick Sullivan explained to Reminder Publications the next phase would be added next year. Exercise station would be added to the bikeway/walkway on the other side of the bridge in a plaza near the Riverview Apartments.  The budget for that part of the project is $200,000, which is from the city’s Community Development Block Grant funds.

The last phase would be converting the second floor of the Bassett Boat Building, built in 1901, into a banquet hall, which Sullivan said is now in the planning stages.

Park Commission Chairman Brian Santaniello said that parks act as gateways to neighborhoods in the city and this new park is a gateway to the North End.

Jose Claudio of the New North Citizens’ Council called the park “a dream come true.”

City Councilor Bud Williams, who was raised in the North End recalled how the Pynchon Park stadium was next to the park where the Pride gas station now stands.