Linwood Rec Center's $2.58M Makeover Brings Nine New Play Zones to St. Clair Avenue

The playground at Linwood Recreation Center on St. Clair Avenue has a brand-new sandy play area for toddlers, a woodchipped zone with swings and climbing structures, and at least nine distinct play features in all — the centerpiece of a $2.58 million renovation that has transformed the Summit Hill park's grounds. The overhaul also brought two new pickleball courts, a full-size basketball court still awaiting its hoops, and a natural turf all-sport field that needs grass to grow in and lines drawn before it can host football, lacrosse and soccer.

According to the Pioneer Press, the project was largely funded by St. Paul's 1% Common Cent sales tax, with about $105,000 coming from the city's parkland dedication fund. The park, which first opened on August 25, 1983, also gained a renovated baseball diamond, an ADA-compliant walking path, stormwater irrigation, picnic tables, court-style streetlighting and two parking areas, per the same account. An amphitheater that was originally part of the design got cut from the budget over cost concerns, the report notes.

A Long-Awaited Facelift Rooted In Community Input

Monica Haas, executive director of the Summit Hill Association, advocated for a top-to-bottom facelift of the Linwood site, the Pioneer Press reports. St. Paul Parks and Recreation gathered surveys from more than 200 residents as it shaped the design, according to city planning logs, with engagement events including an August 15, 2024, Summit Hill Association meeting and an October 1, 2024, family bonfire held at the center.

Jennifer Isernhagen, chair of the Summit Hill Association board, has a personal stake in the project beyond her governance role — her husband's contracting firm installed the retaining wall separating the new playground from the street and sidewalk, per the Pioneer Press report. Linwood also doubles as the physical headquarters for the Summit Hill Association district council under a formal municipal lease, according to the City of Saint Paul.

Families Return To A Familiar Park With New Features

Dan Yates, whose two daughters — 8-year-old Josie and 5-year-old Maggie — both attended preschool at Linwood, is among the neighborhood parents who watched the renovation unfold. Simon Taghioff, a former chair of the Summit Hill Association board, was also involved as the project moved from planning to completion. A formal unveiling for the rec center is planned for around October 2026, even though the park quietly reopened to the public in July.

City construction records show that site work at Linwood restarted in April 2026, with play equipment installed in June before the park reopened on July 9, ahead of its planned fall celebration. Linwood's turnaround follows similar Common Cent-funded projects elsewhere in the city: the play area at South St. Anthony Park was refurbished in July 2026, while play areas at Harriet Island Regional Park, Duluth and Case Recreation Center, and Prospect Park all reopened after their own improvements were completed by the end of summer 2025.

How The Sales Tax Is Reshaping St. Paul's Parks

Linwood's makeover is one piece of a much larger fiscal shift. St. Paul voters approved the Common Cent 1% local option sales tax in November 2023, and it took effect on April 1, 2024, according to the City of Saint Paul. The tax is projected to generate nearly $1 billion over 20 years, with $246 million earmarked specifically for parks and recreation improvements.

That funding stream is addressing a steep backlog: the city manages more than $600 million in park assets but faces over $100 million in deferred maintenance, with the average park facility approaching 40 years old, city figures show. The St. Paul Voice reported that the tax had generated nearly $96.4 million since implementation, with collections growing 7% year-over-year between May 2024 and May 2025 — money that has also flowed into downtown projects like $4.1 million for Wabasha Park and $1.2 million for Chestnut Plaza.

The investment appears to be paying off nationally, too. Saint Paul climbed to fourth place on the 2026 ParkScore Index, up from fifth the year before, a rise Mill City Times attributed largely to expanded parks funding from the Common Cent tax. But the spending hasn't gone unchallenged — a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision earlier in 2026 remanded a lawsuit questioning whether the city could legally direct Common Cent revenue toward park projects not explicitly listed in its original state legislative filings, according to discussion on Reddit.

Part Of A Citywide Pattern Of Playground Overhauls

Linwood isn't the only neighborhood park to get the Common Cent treatment. Saint Paul used the same funding source in July 2025 to rebuild the playground at Carty Park in a single day, partnering with Delta Air Lines and the nonprofit KABOOM! — a project Hoodline previously covered. Linwood itself had already drawn neighborhood attention before its renovation wrapped, having hosted a community vehicle fair on the site in 2025.

With the formal unveiling still ahead this fall, Linwood's grass field and basketball hoops remain unfinished pieces of an otherwise completed picture. For now, neighborhood families are already using the sandy play area, the woodchipped climbing zone and the new pickleball courts that mark the park's first major overhaul in decades.