SCOTTSDALE, AZ — A multi-million-dollar project is in the works at Scottsdale’s McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park.
“It changes the landscape of the park. It creates a new avenue for us as far as the summertime because we're so slow. So, it activates the park year-round now. We have our springtime, our fall time when we're already busy. Now it's going to include the summertime where we'll be busy as well too,” said Darryl Grimes, Special Events Coordinator for McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park.
The improvements have been in the works since 2017, according to the city. The improvements for the park include the following:A lot will be happening behind the metal fence that you’ll be seeing at the park as construction begins this mid-April.The new building will be “The Roundhouse” that will have a large new play structure.
“Once the new building is constructed, the main focal piece is going to be the indoor play structure is going to be the shell of a train. So, the cool thing about it is the kids will be allowed to climb within a train, they'll be able to go up into the smokestack, there's going to be a netting, so there's going to be three different levels that they'll be able to play at,” explained Grimes. “There's going to be a slide two slides that they can come down out of the tender.
According to the city of Scottsdale, summertime is when the park sees a dramatic drop in visitors. The project hopes to revitalize the park with the addition of the splash pad too.“As it stands right now, we're at around 13 million for the project. There was a bond project for the splash pad for this project here. As well as CIP funding from the park, from the city of Scottsdale and the Scottsdale Railroad Mechanical Society,” said Grimes.