This past weekend, Verde Design attended the grand opening celebration of Estuary Park, an eight-acre athletic field complex in Alameda, and ceremonial ball game (played by the Alameda Little League Challenger Division). This event marks the opening of a new park in Alameda in over a decade.

The park’s original field was once used by the U.S. Navy as athletic fields, but was unused in recent years. Verde Design led an integrated design process for the City of Alameda, which included working with citizens, user groups, and Recreation and Park Commission staff. The core principals of the project were to provide space, activities, and features for a broad range of users.

The new park also features a youth “Challenger” baseball field, which provides an adaptive baseball program for individuals with physical and intellectual challenges. The complex also includes a lighted synthetic multi-use field, providing program requirements for soccer, rugby, football and field hockey; a multi-age playground with integral seating, picnic and barbecue areas, basketball courts, and a dog run. A new network of lighted pathways, new restroom and storage facilities, parking, bay-friendly landscape and irrigation system tie the entire park together.