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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
An aerial rendering of the adventure play area
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
The cooperative swing
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
The family pavilion
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
The Orchid climber
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
The Viking swing
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
An aerial view of another play area
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
The main entrance
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
The main pavilion
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
A net climber
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Courtesy of the City of Brentwood
The water play area
The area between Brentwood Boulevard and Hanley Road is scheduled to get a major glow-up that includes a bonkers new playground. Just how bananas are we talking? It’s planned to span 3 acres and has a price tag of $7 million.
Brentwood Bound is a $79.6 million flood mitigation project that seeks to reclaim the floodplain between the two roads. Since 1957, there have been 26 floods in the area. The plan also includes making improvements to Manchester Road and building a Deer Creek Greenway connector, and will be funded by a mix of grants, partnerships, and a half-cent sales tax that voters approved in 2019.
As part of the Brentwood Bound plan, the city will be adding 32 acres of park space, most of it designed to flood. But some park land will be out of the flood zone, and when Brentwood Parks was considering what to do with it, says parks director Eric Gruenenfelder, they surveyed residents. A destination playground and water play feature were at the top of the list of requests.
The new playground, which doesn’t yet have a name, is expected to open in the fall of 2023. Here are five things to know about it.
1. Brentwood wanted a vibrant and singular park that worked with the topography of the land—parks officials didn’t want a flat space with a platform-and-pole-based playground. They took inspiration from O’Day Park in O’Fallon, Veterans Tribute Park in Weldon Spring, and the Anne O'C. Albrecht Nature Playscape in Forest Park, but didn’t want to copy them. The Brentwood playground aims to be a mix, Gruenenfelder says. SWT Design, which also worked on Indian Camp Creek Park in St. Charles County, designed the Brentwood playground’s layout and features.
2. A zip line was one of residents’ most requested pieces of playground equipment, Gruenenfelder says. One is planned for the playground, along with a net climber, a climbing wall, a play structure with slides, swings, walking paths, and a boardwalk that overlooks a pond. A waterfall feature is tucked under a seating area with tables and chairs.
3. The water feature is a stream-like design and serves as an interpretation of the Deer Creek Watershed, with Black Creek and Shady Creek feeding into the main waterway. “It’s one way we can celebrate the watersheds that we're helping to try to correct now,” Gruenenfelder says. “We’ll also have some interpretive signage that will discuss that when the playground opens.”
4. Shade is always one of the most important features of a playground, Gruenenfelder says, and the design team was careful to include both trees and structures like pavilions to allow for a break from the sun.
5. Another priority for the Brentwood playground was to make sure the design included enough variety that it will be enjoyed for years to come. “Hopefully, this will be a playground where you can come 30, 40, 50 times and discover something new,” Gruenenfelder says. “We want to help encourage that discovery of play, not just climbing and sliding.”
Watch a video that shows an animation of people enjoying the playground:
