The recent run of nice weather has bumped up the construction schedule in LaSalle Park by a month.
The project includes rebuilding the park road along I-190, adding new streetlights, and a new parking lot, complete with a tree, shrub and grass 'rain garden' to filter runoff.
Mayor Byron Brown says the early start means work should wrap up before the early July opening of Centennial Pool, which underwent a $3 million renovation in 2010.
The goal, according to Brown, is to encourage the general public to "think Buffalo has some of the best parks, playgrounds, and places to visit and enjoy in the entire region."
Also in the shadow of the historic Colonel Ward Pumping Station, plans are being drawn up for the city's first skate park.
Brown says the young people who have been asking for a place to skateboard helped design it.
"It's going to be a skate plaza-type park," said Deputy Parks Commissioner Andrew Rabb.
"It's going to take a look at the existing layout at the park; it's very flat. Address some of the wind issues that come off the lake with some landscaping. Pay attention to flow so that we don't have kids running into each other."
Rabb describes the space next to Centennial Pool as an ideal location.
The cost of the project is expected to be around $250,000. Brown says phase one should be complete by the summer of 2013.