LA’s huge new $60M ‘oasis’ park with outdoor amphitheater is nearly done — why it won’t open until next year

Another day, another boondoggle?

A long-awaited Los Angeles park taking shape beneath the city’s problem-plagued Sixth Street Bridge has hit a speed bump on its way to opening.

The debut of the 12-acre Sixth Street PARC — short for Park, Arts, River & Connectivity — was supposed to welcome greenery-deprived residents of Boyle Heights and the Arts District this fall.

Now, the premiere of the much-heralded $82 million “oasis,” complete with an outdoor ampitheatre and other bells and whistles, has abruptly been pushed into next year — as locals worry over whether the city are going to be able to keep the sprawling new space not far from struggling Skid Row safe and clean.

Officials are saying that the gates won’t swing open until early 2027.

The holdup is being blamed on scheduling changes involving the installation of playground equipment, Many Nemick, communications director for LA’s Bureau of Engineering, told the LA Local.

The delay follows mounting panic from neighborhood residents and business owners who fear the taxpayers’ investment will quickly deteriorate into a crime-riddled squatter village.

A recent viral Instagram post from DTLA Insider questioned how the park would be kept secure and clean, prompting hundreds of responses. “You already have unhoused people using it, it’s already tagged up all the way,” the Instagram post stated.

Some commenters ominously dubbed the project the “next MacArthur Park” and “MacArthur Park 2.0,” while another just said, “Good luck … can’t have nice things.”

“Considering how bad the locals have treated their new bridge, that park is about to be hell on earth,” one skeptic posted on a Reddit thread.

The Sixth Street Viaduct opened in 2022 at a cost of $588 million and quickly became a magnet for graffiti, street takeovers, and vandalism. Copper wiring has also been ripped out, leaving portions of the bridge’s signature lighting dark.

City Council member Ysabel Jurado acknowledged the headache, stating her office is scrambling to stitch together a inter-agency pact between police, public works and recreation officials before the fences come down.

The city’s Bureau of Engineering currently puts the PARC project price tag at $60 million, saying it is primarily funded through California’s Parks and Water Bond Act of 2018.

The ambitious project broke ground in fall 2023 — and is designed to transform land beneath and around one of LA’s most recognizable pieces of infrastructure into a sprawling urban playground.

The site promises to deliver a slew of perks — an arts plaza complete with an open-air amphitheater, soccer fields and sports courts, dog runs, children’s play yards, fitness hubs, walking trails, and a cafe on site.

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