This October, the $75 million Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park will open to the public, capping three and a half years of construction and delivering a 22-acre destination that city leaders say will change how residents and visitors experience the river. The park’s grand opening is set for the weekend of October 25–26, with free activities and programming expected to draw more than 50,000 people, based on past attendance at the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy’s Harvest Fest. This year, portions of that festival will move into the new park, blending its fall traditions with a major civic debut.
The park’s opening comes alongside another long-anticipated link in Detroit’s riverfront network: a new boardwalk running 17 feet from the water’s edge in front of Riverfront Towers, part of the West RiverWalk. The addition will allow people to travel nearly five miles along the Detroit River without interruption—from the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle, west past the former Joe Louis Arena site, over the boardwalk, through Centennial Park, and up the Southwest Greenway to the Michigan Central campus in Corktown. It represents the latest step toward the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy’s vision of 5.5 miles of continuous public access.
The park is named for the late Ralph C. Wilson Jr., founder of the Buffalo Bills, whose foundation made the initial gift that launched the project. The announcement came on what would have been his 100th birthday, October 17, 1918. In a statement, Matt Cullen, chairman of the conservancy’s board, called the new destination “one of the most iconic public spaces in the country” and said it “will represent a massive step towards the completion of our vision for 5.5 miles of perpetual public access to our revitalized riverfront.” He also credited the Wilson Foundation for “launching this vision for Detroit” and expressed gratitude to “the many partners that joined them in turning this vision into a reality, such as William Davidson Foundation, Huron-Clinton Metroparks, Delta Dental, Erb Foundation, DTE Foundation, and all of the other benefactors who have made this achievement possible.”
Designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the New York landscape architecture firm behind Brooklyn Bridge Park and Chicago’s Maggie Daley Park, Ralph Wilson Park features work from internationally acclaimed architect Sir David Adjaye. Known for projects like the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Adjaye designed the park’s comfort stations and the William Davidson Sport House, bringing a level of architectural ambition rarely seen in public recreation spaces.
Four major attractions anchor the park. The William Davidson Sport House will feature two open-air regulation basketball courts beneath a raised canopy with a skylight, as well as flexible space for community events. The Delta Dental Play Garden, a five-acre playground, will offer large-scale play structures inspired by native Michigan wildlife, including a 23-foot bear slide. The Huron-Clinton Metroparks Water Garden will cover 2.5 acres, transforming into an ice-skating space in winter. The DTE Foundation Summit will provide a sweeping green lawn for special events and winter sledding. Across the site, visitors will find outdoor classrooms, new plantings, and nearly 900 trees—about 750 of which are already in the ground.
Getting the project to this point required a significant financial intervention last year. In the wake of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy’s former CFO embezzling more than $40 million, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation committed $35 million in new funding—$10 million in a grant and a $25 million loan guarantee—to keep work on schedule. The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan stepped in as fiduciary for that funding, helping secure additional commitments while the conservancy worked to stabilize operations. That emergency financing ensured contractors could be paid and construction could continue without delay. The conservancy is now leading the effort to raise the $25 million needed to satisfy the loan guarantee, with both foundations continuing to collaborate closely.
Currently, about 90 percent of the park is complete. Remaining work includes planting around the water garden and installing a Detroit Pistons–branded court floor in the William Davidson Sport House, a nod to Davidson’s decades-long ownership of the team from 1974 until his death in 2009. The park’s design aims to support year-round use, with spaces that can adapt to seasonal shifts in activity—from skating and sledding in winter to concerts and festivals in the warmer months.
The opening of Ralph Wilson Park will bring Detroit significantly closer to a fully connected riverfront, but some work will remain. Following its debut, roughly two-thirds of a mile of the RiverWalk will still need to be completed to the west, linking Rosa Parks Boulevard to Riverside Park near the Ambassador Bridge. That final stretch will extend the path to the city’s edge, cementing the riverfront as a continuous public space in a city where such access was once cut off by industry, freeways, and disinvestment.
The park’s location at 1801 W. Jefferson Ave. places it within reach of both longtime residents and new visitors drawn to Detroit’s growing cultural and recreational offerings. Its mix of active play areas, open green space, and event infrastructure reflects a deliberate effort to make the riverfront a place where people from all neighborhoods can gather. The scale of investment, combined with the nationally recognized talent behind its design, signals the city’s commitment to building public spaces that match the ambition of its redevelopment narrative.
For Detroiters who have watched the east RiverWalk transform over the past two decades, the westward expansion is both a continuation and a turning point. The boardwalk past Riverfront Towers, once a missing link, will now be a direct connection between east and west, past and present. Centennial Park’s programming is expected to attract a broad cross-section of the city, while its integration into the broader greenway network offers new routes for walkers, runners, and cyclists.
As the October opening approaches, the focus is on finishing touches and preparing for what the conservancy expects will be one of the largest public gatherings on the riverfront in years. Food trucks, live music, and seasonal activities will set the tone, but the real draw will be the chance to walk into a space that has been years in the making—a place built to serve Detroit in all seasons, for decades to come.
