A zip line featuring a molded bucket seat with boarding at either end of the corridor isn’t the main attraction within the newly-improved Shoreview Commons, but it’s up there.
The “ZipKrooz” area took designers from Landscape Structures some 18 months of concept planning, prototype-building and kid testing, with the last being among the most important “to see if it was too fast or not fast enough,” said Scott Roschi, the creative director behind Shoreview’s new 23,500-square-foot destination playground.
Situated off Victoria Street and Minnesota 96, the $3.8 million playground now ranks as one of the largest outdoor structured play spaces in the metro, roughly on par in size with Maple Grove’s Central Park, and it’s drawn scores of visitors from St. Paul to Burnsville and beyond.
“Swings are one of the top requested things for playgrounds, but zip lines have fast become in demand,” said Roschi, during a recent tour of the free outdoor kids zone that’s gradually becoming the talk of the east metro parenting world. “We bring in kids with different abilities to see how they interact with it, if it’s too difficult or not difficult enough, testing things like reach range for a 2-year-old versus a 5-year-old.”
EMBRACING, VALUING PARKS
Over his shoulder, Roschi pointed to native prairie grasses that have been planted in close proximity.
In fact, the gardens aren’t situated on the perimeter of the playground. Instead, planted spaces jut into it like an isthmus, interjecting the natural world into the play areas in a manner most traditional playgrounds would eschew. A similar wetland theme runs through some 70 separate structures and activities, including two 20-foot-tall towers fashioned like tree houses with slides and crawl spaces.
The moldings for those tree houses were based on actual tree bark, the kind of nod to the authentic natural world that Roschi and other designers with Delano-based Landscape Structures think sets their employee-owned company apart in the industry.
Three slides that follow the contours of a small hill from top to bottom, inclusive group swings, quiet spaces and interactive displays that emphasize sensory play for 2- to 5-year-olds line one side of the playground, while an “American Ninja Warrior”-style fitness course that includes cargo rope netting, angled steps, climbing challenges and seven other obstacles lines the other.
“Coming out of COVID, communities really embraced how popular and valuable their parks were,” Roschi said. He noted that Landscape Structures has been busy in recent years, with projects from San Antonio, Texas, where the city is studying potential upgrades to its entire park system, to St. Paul, where the company debuted the Midway Peace Park in November 2020.
There are also picnic shelters, seating areas where a parent or grandparent might keep a close eye on the younger set and other activities segregated by age.
“It’s like it’s straight out of ‘The Lorax,’ ” said Brad Martens, Shoreview’s new city manager, referring to the 2012 film based on a Dr. Seuss book.
NEW SKATE PARK, ICE SKATING POND
Landscape Structures’ destination playground, which opened in June, has drawn fans from well outside of Shoreview, but it isn’t the only new attraction within Shoreview Commons.
In March 2020, just as the pandemic was spreading in Minnesota, Shoreview debuted a modern new skate park, designed by Los Angeles-based Spohn Ranch with various levels of concrete to replace an outdated course that was largely composed of wood ramps.
The concrete skate park “is really the best quality you can get,” said Shoreview Parks and Recreation Director Steve Benoit.
An adjoining man-made pond that opened around the same time features a fountain-like water feature in its center, and it freezes over in the winter for ice skating.
“Both that skate park and pond were marvelous during COVID,” said Shoreview Mayor Sandy Martin, who has watched Shoreview Commons evolve over her 26 years as mayor and 46 years in various city roles.
Together, the skate park and pond cost the city $3.2 million, bringing the total price tag for the new Shoreview Commons to $7 million.
Martin, who has chosen not to run for re-election, considers it money well spent, a capstone of sorts of her lengthy career in public service.
She said multiple efforts were made to solicit public input before replacing former softball fields “serving a very small group of people,” Martin said. “We had other sites for softball in the city. We looked at other cities and we were, I have to admit, envious.”
The new recreational spaces are located northwest of the city’s community center, which is known for its indoor swimming pool, the longstanding Tropics Waterpark and adjoining Bamboo Bay kids water area, as well as an indoor playground and fitness center. The regional Ramsey County library and school district building are situated across the parking lot south of the playground.
“We have such a wonderful campus with the library and the school district and the rec center,” Martin said. “We don’t really have a downtown. This is our central area, and we really wanted to maximize that space.”