Beacon Park In Downtown Detroit Is Now Open

Last year, work begun on transforming a lot that was a few industrial buildings and gravel into “Beacon Park,” a downtown green space inspired by Norman B. Leventhal Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

The project started as an idea when Gerry Anderson, the CEO of DTE Energy, was visiting shareholders in Boston in 2015 and he was impressed by Leventhal Park – and found that it was the business community there that partnered together to make the space happen.

Today, the park opened with a ceremony that featured Mayor Mike Duggan among others.

So let’s dive in. First, the restaurant named “Lumen” (follow the lighting puns here? A “Beacon” park, “Lumen” restaurant) is not ready, and won’t be until next year. So that’s a bummer. Construction is still underway there.

In the meantime, there will be a variety of food trucks, temporary bars and more. For the weekend festival (we’ve put a full schedule at the end of this post), there are bars featuring Griffin Claw beers, Blake’s Hard Cider, Faygo, and mixed drinks. The selection looked decent and the prices – $6 for a cocktail – are reasonable.

The park isn’t actual grass. It’s artificial turf and the best way I can describe it is it feels kind of like dog park turf under your feet.

The park definitely has a modern sensibility about it, and the buildings in the distance around it give it a very urban feel.

There’s a volleyball net, a couple stages set up for the weekend performances, and landscaping.

The cost for the park has not been disclosed by DTE.

Above you’ll find a list of the events this weekend, and you can click or tap it to embiggen. Also, if you’d like to watch a time lapse of the construction, go here.