NoMa’s newest park officially opens next Wednesday (Oct. 19)!!

3rd and L Street, NE photos courtesy NoMa BID

From the NoMa BID:

“NoMa’s newest park, Swampoodle Terrace, is ready for opening!

We’ve all heard “good things come in small packages”. Well, Swampoodle Terrace proves it! This delight-filled, small park at the corner of 3rd and L streets NE, is beautiful and inviting. It is chockablock with trees and plants, as well as useful and restful spaces for NoMa neighbors.

It’s been nearly eight years since the NoMa Parks Foundation (NPF) began its public-private partnership with the DC government, and Swampoodle Terrace will be one of the final projects delivered for NoMa community members. The land was acquired in 2020 after five years of pursuit and longing for a bookend to Swampoodle Park. It was the fourth successful land acquisition in the joint effort of NPF and the DC Government. The park was designed by Lee and Associates and constructed by Forrester Construction. Support and guidance throughout the process were provided by the DC Departments of Parks and Recreation, General Services, and Transportation, ANC6C – especially through the Environment, Parks, and Events, and Transportation and Public Space committees, as well as by NoMa residents. NPF and NoMa BID are grateful for the engagement and commitment of our many partners over the last eight years.

Together the two spaces, Swampoodle Park and Swampoodle Terrace, will fill many of the aspirations that the NoMa community expressed during stakeholder meetings leading up to the creation of the 2012 NoMa Public Realm Design Plan. That Plan was the framework document for the grant provided by the District to NPF and the guide for the activities NPF undertook.

Swampoodle Terrace includes important new community gathering spaces, serving capability for events and storage for park equipment in a specially designed shipping container, flexible play and performance space, plenty of seating, including some for dedicated Chess games, a shade pergola, and beautiful plantings – including a community herb garden. Changes to adjacent public spaces are comprised of a lovely, terraced entry, curb bulb-outs for traffic-calming, new bike racks, and two micro-mobility corrals. When seen and used together with Swampoodle Park, its award-winning sister park directly across the street, the parks address a wider range of play needs – for both kids and dogs – and even more seating options. With the opening of Swampoodle Terrace, NPF has created a unique and lovely green interlude for this once park-starved area.

The ribbon-cutting for Swampoodle Terrace is scheduled for October 19th at 5 p.m. Please join NPF and our District partners as we celebrate the opening of this charming new park.”