Madsen Park in Salt Lake City's Euclid neighborhood will close beginning Monday for several months of construction, as the city moves ahead with a resident-driven overhaul funded by its parks bond. The 9 N. Chicago St. park, which sits near the North Temple corridor, is more than 80 years old and has already weathered one shutdown tied to crime concerns.
According to KSL, Salt Lake City plans to close Madsen Park at 9 N. Chicago Street beginning Monday for several months of amenity upgrades. The city says the project will add off-leash dog play areas, a half-court basketball court, a game zone, new event infrastructure, park lighting, drinking fountains and water-wise plantings. Dustin Wiberg, a senior landscape architect with the Department of Public Lands, said the project brings community priorities to life and will make the park more welcoming, per the same report. The work is expected to wrap by spring 2027, and the city has said the upgrades reflect requests from residents in the Euclid and Jackson areas.
A Park With a Rocky Recent History
This isn't the first time Madsen Park has gone dark. The city temporarily closed it in 2021 over concerns about crime, according to ksl.com, which separately reported that Salt Lake City had, as of 2010, considered relocating the park to a site along 900 West. By October 2023, city leaders had reversed course, working to keep Madsen Park at its existing Chicago Street address rather than move it — a shift the outlet tied to the North Temple corridor's rapid growth and the need for green space in the expanding neighborhood.
The city also amended its earlier relocation plan to instead explore funding sources for rebuilding the park where it stands, the outlet reported. Potential improvements floated at the time included a gated dog area and new playground equipment, while preserving room for events and athletic activities — ideas that have since taken shape in the current construction plan.
Volunteers Already Laid the Groundwork
Madsen Park's revitalization effort actually began in 2025, when the city partnered with the national nonprofit KaBOOM! and local volunteers to rebuild the park's playground. More than 100 volunteers gathered at the park on June 27, 2025, to build the new playground, plant trees on the park's south end and repaint the basketball court, according to ksl.com's earlier coverage. Peter Christophersen, a project manager for KaBOOM!, said the playground was built with both the children using it soon and future residents of the neighborhood in mind.
That same report described a second phase planned for the following year that would add a new dog park, concrete table-tennis and cornhole stands, plus additional trees, shrubs and flowerbeds — elements that line up with the amenities now arriving as Madsen Park closes for construction.
Where the Money Comes From
The upgrades are funded by the $85 million parks improvement bond that Salt Lake City residents approved in 2022, with the city directing $1.05 million toward Madsen Park specifically. Voters approved that bond by a lopsided 71% margin, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The newspaper reported that the city borrowed $24 million of the bond in 2023, then came back late last year with approval to borrow another $49.3 million, with a remaining tranche of roughly $10 million possibly following in 2028 or 2029.
Madsen Park is one of several sites — including Ida Cotton Park, Taufer Park and Richmond Park — slated for construction funded by the bond's initial cash flow, the Tribune reported. All told, the bond program is fueling up to 100 public-lands projects across the city worth as much as $200 million, with officials citing a standard capital-project timeline of about three years from start to finish. Elsewhere, the bond's first wave put $9 million into Phase 1 of Glendale Regional Park, which has since opened, with Phase 2 construction expected to begin in spring 2027.
Nearby Parks to Visit During the Closure
Salt Lake City is urging Madsen Park users to consider other nearby parks while construction is underway. Options include Cottonwood Park at 1580 W. North Star Drive, Jackson Park at 481 N. Grant Street, and Sherwood Park at 1400 W. 400 South. Pioneer Park, located at 350 S. 300 West, is set to reopen Nov. 13.
