Solar charging station, public art part of Hampden Park renovation
Tiny Hampden Park at the corner of Hampden and Raymond avenues in south St. Anthony Park will be the first St. Paul city park to have a solar-powered charging station for park users to charge their phones or other small electronics.
The Soofa Core station is one of a number of amenities coming to the park this summer as the city of St. Paul makes $200,000 in improvements. The project also includes a poured-concrete plaza and ADAcompliant picnic table on the east end of the park, a bike repair station called Fixit (the park is part of the Grand Rounds bikeway), public art by sculptor Zoran Mojsilov (who made the sculpture in the front of Surly Brewing Co. in Prospect Park) and pollinator-friendly, neonic-free plants.
District 12 community organizer Cailin Rogers said the D12 Environment Committee has done “amazing work” in shaping the renovations. “This has really been a long time coming,” she said.
The money for the project, which came through the city’s Capital Improvement Budget, was applied for 10 years ago.
