On October 14, 2020, DC’s Department of Parks & Recreation and the Department of General Services shared the final design for the new Riggs-LaSalle Playground that will be located on the Nicholson Street NE side of the Riggs-LaSalle Recreation Center. View the presentation here.
The playground will be ADA accessible with play structures for the 2 to 5 year old age group and for the 5 to 12 year old age group. New shade trees, low maintenance landscaping, and a four foot decorative fence will be installed.
We discussed the preliminary design in this blog post. A few updates from the preliminary design:
- Confirmed drinking fountain with bottle filler
- More benches (4, up from 2)
- More swings (4, up from 3)
- Night lighting
- Security cameras
- Reorientation of the playground layout
DPR will not create a direct walkway between the existing splash pad and the new playground as requested because they do not want children with wet slippery feet running onto the playground and potentially hurting themselves. As for security, DPR noted the agency will work with DGS to ensure that the playground is adequately maintained and safe.
The project will break ground in the next couple of weeks, with completion anticipated late 2020/early 2021. For questions, contact the project manager Peter Nohrden at peter.nohrden@dc.gov. The project website is https://dgs.dc.gov/riggs-lasalle.
Images from presentation
Next Stop...Riggs Park 
Congratulations to the community for coming together and supporting this project. It is a big win for everyone, especially the children. A special congratulations goes to Tischa Cockrell, president of the Friends of the Riggs-Lasalle Recreation Center, for providing a thoughtful security plan that the Department of Parks and Recreation fully implemented.