'Urban oasis': Downtown Lytle Park $5M renovation complete
Abe Lincoln has a new home.
People and their pets have a new walking path.
Kids have a new playground.
And the London plane tree that launched a lawsuit is marked for posterity.
Cincinnati Parks shows them all off Friday, as it officially unveils a 17-month upgrade of Lytle Park in the southeast corner of Downtown.
The 117-year-old park – built on what was once the U.S. Army’s Fort Washington – last saw a major facelift in 1967 following the construction of Interstate 71 and again in 2017 for a ventilation project in an interstate tunnel.
The current project ended up costing $5 million, up from an earlier estimate of $4.7 million. Western & Southern Financial Group, with its headquarters and several buildings in the neighborhood, committed more than $3.2 million with the Ohio Department of Transportation providing $1.1 million and the balance coming from the city.
With the project complete, Lytle Park is "truly an urban oasis" and "beautiful front yard" for residents, hotel guests and visitors to Taft Museum, Western & Southern said in a statement.
Kathleen Brinkman, who lives in the neighborhood's Park Place condos and sued to help save the lone London plane tree, thanked city and state taxpayers and other funders.
Per a legal settlement, the tree was relocated and marked with a sign that reads: “A London Plane shade tree originally planted in Lytle Park along Fourth Street in 1970.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What's new at downtown Cincinnati's Lytle Park?
