Tuesday, January 27, 2015

For Immediate Release from the Lake Worth CRA --

Lake Worth, FL; January 27, 2015 – The Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is thrilled to announce that our agency was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from the Walter & Adi Blum Foundation. The CRA applied for this grant to further enhance the Tropical Ridge Fitness Park located at 211 North ‘H’ Street in downtown Lake Worth. Funding from the Walter & Adi Blum Foundation will specifically be used to install an irrigation system, new landscaping and benches at the park.

This grant will enable the Agency to fulfill a promise made to the neighborhood that included the development of park space for adults and children. Parks offer residents a quantifiable range of advantages including quality of life, neighborhood vitality and economic benefits. The CRA believes that unstructured, child-directed play has been proven to help kids develop physically, socially and cognitively, yet today’s kids have less time and fewer opportunities to play than any previous generation.

Three years ago, the Tropical Ridge Fitness Park was nothing more than a vacant, City-owned lot located on the 200 block of North ‘H’ Street. However, the CRA Board and Staff, along with their numerous community partners, realized that this lot had the potential to become an ideal pocket park for the residents living in the surrounding neighborhood. 


In November 2012, the CRA, the Trust for Public Land, and the Palm Beach County School District, opened the first phase of the park by installing a new ‘fitness zone’ at this location. This outdoor fitness zone consisted of nine pieces of workout equipment which are free for the public to use. The second phase of development at this park happened in April 2014 and consisted of a new children’s playground. The playground project was made possible thanks to grants and participation from KaBOOM! Inc., Cannatelli Builders Inc., the Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Publix, Habitat for Humanity and Community Partners of Palm Beach County. The CRA anticipates the new improvements funded by The Blum Foundation to begin later this year.