{"id":140612,"date":"2026-02-02T13:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/140612\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:19:08","slug":"huizenga-park-reopens-following-15-million-two-year-redesign-in-downtown-fort-lauderdale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/140612\/","title":{"rendered":"Huizenga Park Reopens Following $15 Million, Two-Year Redesign in Downtown Fort Lauderdale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority and the Huizenga Park Foundation officially celebrated the reopening of Huizenga Park over the weekend, marking the completion of a two-year, $15 million redesign of the 3.6-acre riverfront public space in Downtown Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n<p>Located at 32 East Las Olas Boulevard, the park has reopened following a comprehensive transformation led by Perkins&amp;Will. The redesign introduces expanded green space, shaded seating areas, interactive play features, Downtown Fort Lauderdale\u2019s first designated dog run, and new public art installations, all intended to strengthen the park\u2019s role as a civic gathering space along the New River.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-37772\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/REE_6758.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Fort Lauderdale DDA, Huizenga Park Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>The grand reopening took place across Saturday, January 24, and Sunday, January 25, welcoming residents and visitors back to the city\u2019s signature downtown park. Festivities included a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by six-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Laurie Jennings, guided park tours, a programming showcase, a movie night on the lawn, the Sunny Side Up Market, yoga sessions, and a guided sunset meditation. The weekend events were designed to reintroduce the park\u2019s new layout and amenities while highlighting its expanded capacity for public programming.<\/p>\n<p>Huizenga Park occupies a prominent riverfront site in the heart of Downtown Fort Lauderdale, an area that continues to serve as a major economic engine for the city and Broward County. The downtown district currently supports an estimated $43 billion in annual economic impact, accounting for roughly one-third of the county\u2019s total economic output and approximately one-quarter of its jobs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-37771 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSC07993-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Fort Lauderdale DDA, Huizenga Park Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>The reopening also coincided with a significant philanthropic contribution to the project. Longtime Fort Lauderdale philanthropists Michele and Chuck West Jr., founder of Pet Supermarket, donated $1.5 million to the Huizenga Park Foundation. The contribution dedicates the park\u2019s new Civic Lawn in their name and places the West family alongside the Huizenga family as Legacy Diamond donors.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority and the Huizenga Park Foundation announced the launch of a new health and wellness programming series at the park, presented by Cleveland Clinic. The initiative will offer free, year-round movement, mindfulness, and recovery programming, further expanding Huizenga Park\u2019s role as an active public amenity within Downtown Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/hud0UH\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a> to YIMBY\u2019s daily e-mail<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/yimbygram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Follow<\/a> YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/YIMBYFB\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Like<\/a>\u00a0YIMBY on Facebook<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yimbytweets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Follow<\/a> YIMBY\u2019s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/floridayimby.com\/category\/uncategorized\" rel=\"category tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Uncategorized<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority and the Huizenga Park Foundation officially celebrated the reopening of Huizenga Park&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-140612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}