Irishtown Bend

Irishtown Bend

About

Irishtown Bend Park represents a generational opportunity to create a 25-acre green space that connects downtown and Cleveland neighborhoods to the Cuyahoga River, Lake Erie, and beyond!

If you are interested in supporting this transformational project, please visit the Irishtown Bend Park website here.

The overall Irishtown Bend hillside is the site of three separate and sequential projects:

1. 1. Stabilization of Irishtown Bend
   2. Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements
   3. Irishtown Bend Park

1.) Stabilization of Irishtown Bend

This $65+ million project led by the Port of Cleveland is on track to be substantially complete by the end of 2025, with some minor landscaping improvements to set to wrap up in early 2026.

For more information, please visit the Port of Cleveland's website.

2.) Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements

The Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail, stretching from the Towpath Trail near Scranton Road to the Willow Avenue Lift Bridge, has been constructed in phases, with segments opening in 2015, 2017, and 2021. The final segment along Irishtown Bend will include approximately 0.5 miles of all-purpose trail and a riverfront promenade. This will connect the 101-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail to Lake Erie at Wendy Park. Also as a part of this project, amenities will be installed along the newly re-aligned Franklin Avenue.

Cleveland Metroparks is leading design, construction, and management of this project, which will begin construction in spring 2026 with anticipated completion in spring 2027.

3.) Irishtown Bend Park

Irishtown Bend Park will serve as the culmination years of work and engagement by public, private, and nonprofit partners to create a world-class 25-acre park on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. This final piece of the project, the design and construction of the park features, will build on the stage set by the hillside stabilization and Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements projects.

While Cleveland Metroparks’ original involvement in the Irishtown Bend Park project was as a stakeholder, the Park District, in partnership with LAND studio and Ohio City Incorporated, along with support from West Creek Conservancy and City of Cleveland, will lead design, construction, and management of Irishtown Bend Park.  For more information, visit the Irishtown Bend Park website.

The Irishtown Bend Park improvements will be funded through both private donations and various local and federal funding sources. Design is underway, and the first phase of construction is expected to begin in spring of 2027 and continue through early 2029.

Project Facts

Project Type: New Reservation/Major Park Expansion; All Purpose Trail Project

Project Phase:

• Stabilization - Under Construction
• Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements - Design
• Irishtown Bend Park - Design

Anticipated Construction Timeline:

• Stabilization - Complete early 2026
• Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements - Spring 2026 - Spring 2027
• Irishtown Bend Park - Spring 2027 - 2029

Contact:

• Stabilization - Contact Port of Cleveland
• Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements - Sara Byrnes Maier, Principal Planner, 216-635-3289 or [email protected] 
• Irishtown Bend Park - Amanda Meier, Landscape Architect, 216-635-3250 or [email protected]

Project Size: 25 acres

Cleveland Metroparks Contracting Partner(s): 

• Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements - Great Lakes Construction Co
• Irishtown Bend Park - Great Lakes Construction Co

Cleveland Metroparks Consulting Partner(s):

• Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements - Osborn Engineering, Plural Studio, Construction Consulting & Estimating, The Mannik & Smith Group, Inc
• Irishtown Bend Park - Osborn Engineering, Plural Studio, The Mannik & Smith Group, Inc

Project Partners:

• LAND studio
• Ohio City Inc.
• Port of Cleveland
• West Creek Conservancy
• City of Cleveland
• Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT)
• Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA)
• Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA)

Funding Support:

• Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail / Franklin Enhancements
  • NOACA Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Program
  • Congressionally Directed Spending
• Irishtown Bend Park
  • National Park Service Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program
  • Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation
  • The George Gund Foundation
  • John P. Murphy Foundation
  • State of Ohio
  • Clean Ohio Conservation Fund - land acquisition
  • Other private funders and state and local grants