The six companies bidding on Eugene, Oregon’s “destination” skatepark have been whittled down to two, Dreamland and Grindline, according to our source at Spohn Ranch, of all places. The field used to contain American Ramp Company, California Skateparks, Pillar Design Studios and Spohn Ranch. Did you know that “skate park work is specialized?” Well apparently I did, because they asked me a bunch of questions for the Daily Journal of Commerce. One of the many things they left out of the article was the notion that 18,000 square feet isn’t really large enough to be considered a destination park. That’s about two thirds of the size of Newberg, or Orcas Island if anyone is counting. In any case, the project should break ground some time in 2010 if all goes well, but i don’t think they’ve raise all the money yet, so we’ll have to see how that goes. – Thanks to Hays Hitzing for the tip.
20 comments
somerandomdude
lets just hope the keep up with there REP.
bobcat
Eugene should have a pair of shears and a delouser at the entrance of the park….. OK, i couldn’t resist.
Tom Miller
Whatever idiot came up with the names, Skaters for Portland Skateparks and Skaters for Public Skateparks, i.e. the same acronym, should be…
Whoops.
Kilwag, good point about Portland. We selected 25,000 sf as the break point between mid-size park and uberpark, somewhat arbitrarily, because our destination park will meaningfully accommodate both street and tranny. We figured 25,000 was a bare minimum to provide for both street and tranny in a meaningful way. First skatepark in the PNW to pull that off. Radical concept (?).
Grindline is the skatepark design/build firm hired by the City of Portland to tell us what that means for our destination site, Steel Bridge. We’ll see their concept sometime in the fall of 2009.
But that’s Portland and this thread is about Eugene. I look forward to seeing (and skating) what they do.
freakbeatfuzz
Good ol’ Wormhout designed Cunningham but he never pours his own concrete. He’s a CAD deign-using surfer that doesn’t skate. Nuff said.
http://www.skateparks.com/completed_parks.php
duders
2/3 of lake cunningham is wasted space, and when you compare most any california park to any oregon park you’re comparing apples and piles of shit.
in addition i do not think cunningham is even a wormhoudt park it was california skateparks or someone else. concrete disciples has the info i believe.
anyway, i would relish the situation where the two final bids were between dreamland and grindline. i would agree that dreamland’s work is probably a little bit better overall, but grindline puts pool block on a lot more stuff so they’re even.
bobcat
Where’s Skaters for Public Skateparks to tell us all how skateparks should be made? guys? hahahahahah
freakbeatfuzz
If Dreamland would have built Cunningham all that wasted space in the middle and along the fence would have been filled with skateable objects. Cunningham is better than the usual Wormhout turd but he needs to get somebody decent to pour his crete. The mini amoeba has had concrete crumbling right under the coping on one of the hips since day 1. The repiars don’t hold up. The Tony bowl, thumb bowl, capsule are all pretty kinky. I’m with you on the parking. I park on Cunningham Rd. and skate 2 minutes to the park.
LP
cunnigham is awesome but yeah lots of wasted space…on opening day they were already talking expansion and there is room, but all the non-skating surface is probably 40 percent of the square footage. still a rad park, worth 5 bucks but only if you go all day. the 6 dollar parking in the summer is BS…i park in the neighborhood and walk.
Concretin Nik
Louisville is a great park. It’s no Lake Cunningham, but Worm did a great job – the only REAL complaint is the shit ‘crete used in the pipe. Everything else is holding up great! But Parks Depts AND park builders really need to stop counting “pedestrian” space in the square footage.
jer
i wouldn’t say that 18,000 sq feet make a destination, but thats about what we have in raleigh, nc. the combined efforts of pillar and artisan skateparks built one hell of a park. you can do a lot with a little, but when i think destination i think something like louisville or san jose.
actually this is just 12,000 sq. feet
http://artisanskateparks.com/raleigh_plans1.html
kilwag
Well… yeah, and that thought had crossed my mind, but with so many good parks in the surrounding areas, I’d think you’d need the extra square footage to get attention. And also, I have to mention that I was going by the SPS definition!
Tom Miller
It ain’t the quantity of square feet. It’s the quality you put on whatever you got.
I appreciate what Kilwag is saying. I’m just arguing because this is a chat room and if we’re not arguing about something, usually inane, hell will freeze over.
But seriously, see the first paragraph. Or better yet: see Burnside, Aumsville, Port Angeles. Unless you are hardcore plaza-only, those are three parks that are unquestionably destinations. That’s not just my opinion; the traffic and mythology of those parks supports that. And if Calgary, Louisville, and Denver had NW quality parks within easy reach of those metropolitan areas (like we do in Portland) those massive places would be all but empty. Because size notwithstanding, they’re just not that good. Full disclosure: I’ve skated Calgary and Denver, but not Louisville.
Danimal
hells yes! destination or not more dreamland/grindline crete down here is much needed
ChrisBennett
Hopefully Dreamland gets this park, nothing against grindline. Just I think Dreamland puts more effort into being as close to perfect as possible. whereas many Grindline parks Ive skate have flaws in the concrete pour process. Either way the park should be sick. Skate Fast!!!!
Oh yea the price of steel is up, which in return has made an increase in the price of rebar. haha I tied about 8 tons of bar today.
michael
Hopefully I will be up in portland by the time it gets built but another good park down in this part of oregon will always be welcome. It was nice to hit up “skate shelter” when it was pouring out.
freakbeatfuzz
awesome. let me know what’s up. thanks. fingers crossed on dreamland or grindline.
ssk
I just talked to the purchasing office. They received six proposals. I am going in there tomorrow to see what they look like.
freakbeatfuzz
Oregon as a whole is a destination. 18,000 sq ft. seems tiny though considering Lake Cunningham in San Jose is 66,000 sq ft. Admittedly, a lot of that space is wasted. Thanks Wormhout. We’re enjoying our one Grindline designed/ Dreamland poured park here in San Francisco and are hoping to add to that total. Team Pain would be great too. San Francisco is now taking RFP’s. LINK HERE
Pine St
Isn’t the current cost of concrete and rebar triple what it was when Newberg was built?
Do we need to reasses what makes a destination park?
Hood River is the new definition of destination in my book.
Scott
Eh, it’ll be a destination park because it’s going to be undercover, and hopefully will be built to truly meet skateboarders demands… unlike the other parks down here in Eugene.