Kankakee's East Riverwalk, the first phase of the sprawling Currents of Kankakee redevelopment, is now about 70% complete, according to project leader Bill Yohnka. With that milestone in sight, the city, the park district and the nonprofit behind the effort are already shifting their focus to the next set of phases, including Legion Park and the far more complicated West Riverwalk stretch.
As reported by Shaw Local, the Currents of Kankakee partners have raised more than $450,000 through local donations and businesses, according to Yohnka, on top of grants secured from Visit Kankakee County, the Community Foundation, and an Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development grant through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The Kankakee Riverfront Society is the nonprofit spearheading the broader Currents of Kankakee project, which partners with both the City of Kankakee and the park district to pursue a vision that includes potential retail, housing and dining development along the river.
Yohnka credited the partnership and local philanthropy with demonstrating local buy-in.
What Comes After the East Riverwalk
With the first phase approaching the finish line, the Currents of Kankakee team plans to pursue planning and grant funding for the next three phases, Yohnka said: the riverfront west of the Edward McBroom Bridge, Legion Park, Fisherman Park and Alpiner Park. Of those, Legion Park is furthest along in the planning pipeline, with future construction plans currently being reviewed and approved by project partners, according to Yohnka.
The City of Kankakee is leading the groundwork on the Legion Park phase, per Yohnka's account to the outlet. Preliminary designs call for grassy areas, trees, circling sidewalks and two paths leading down to the riverfront. Once those plans receive final approval, the Currents of Kankakee team intends to pursue grant funding to move the project forward, Yohnka said. The city scheduled a Legion Park community planning workshop for April.
West Riverwalk Faces a Longer Road
The West Riverwalk, defined as the riverfront area west of the Edward McBroom Bridge, presents a tougher challenge than Legion Park. The city does not control some of the properties needed in that stretch, though it does have a grant to help acquire some of the parcels still outstanding, Yohnka said.
That grant appears tied to a broader state award: in January, the City of Kankakee received a $990,000 Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant from Illinois, the single largest OSLAD award in the state that year, according to the Kankakee County Economic Development office. The funding is earmarked for property purchases and removals, surveying and environmental work for the West Riverwalk between South Washington Avenue and South Fifth Avenue. At the time of that award, the city had acquired 16 of the 22 targeted riverfront lots needed for the segment, and municipal leaders estimated that actual physical construction on that phase remains eight to 10 years away.
The OSLAD program behind that funding has deep roots. Created by the Illinois General Assembly in 1986, the grant program administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has distributed more than $675 million in state cost-sharing funds to local park projects statewide, according to the January 2026 press release from Senator Patrick Joyce.
Tracing the East Riverwalk's Funding Path
The East Riverwalk itself, a 1-acre public park planned for the southeast corner of East River Street and South Schuyler Avenue, carries an overall budget of roughly $5 million, per the Kankakee County Economic Development office's reporting. The East Riverwalk also received a $600,000 OSLAD contribution.
Visit Kankakee County was among the grant sources supporting the project. More recently, in August, The Currents of Kankakee hosted a Boathouse Rock! fundraiser to raise additional preservation money for restoring a historic 1928 boathouse located within the East Riverwalk site.
A Plan Years in the Making
The broader vision guiding all of these phases traces back to June 2018, when the City of Kankakee formally adopted the Kankakee Riverfront Master Plan. The plan's design process began in 2017, when the city engaged Naperville-based Hitchcock Design Group and its design team, after riverfront improvement became part of former Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong's Kankakee Forward agenda in 2016, according to the American Society of Landscape Architects Illinois chapter.
That master plan set ambitious economic targets for the full 4-mile river corridor. Full implementation by 2028 is projected to generate $2.3 million in new TIF tax revenue, $66 million in one-time construction impact, 348 construction jobs, 133 permanent non-construction jobs, and $12 million in annual recurring economic impact across 70 acres of public land, according to the City of Kankakee Economic & Community Development Agency. With Legion Park designs moving toward approval and West Riverwalk land acquisition still years from construction, the Currents of Kankakee partners now face the task of stringing together grant after grant to keep that 2028 vision on track.
