This spring Montgomery Parks will begin construction on a new 1-acre urban park in downtown Silver Spring that will offer amenities such as a multi-sport court, playgrounds, a dog run and a fitness area, according to planner Ching-Fang Chen.
South Silver Spring Urban Park at 1110 East West Highway will also include areas for and games including cornhole and ping pong, a central grassy lawn, a nature play space for children, a bocce court and a stage. In the spring, the department plans to hold a naming contest for the park that may change the current name.
Chen told Bethesda Today recently that planners are trying to “provide all kinds of amenities and [space] that is flexible so it’s a park for everyone.”
The parks department aims to begin construction in late March or April and plans to open the park in spring 2026, Chen said. She noted the plan is for the new park to complement Acorn Urban Park, a .3-acre space down the block at 8060 Newell St. that features a historic acorn-shaped gazebo.
“I was the project manager for the Acorn Park Facility Plan and back then we met with the community and people just felt really strongly that in such a dense community there is no park for them,” Chen said referring to a 2019 plan for the renovation of Acorn Park.
Chen pointed out that since 2000 the southern downtown Silver Spring area has seen “a lot of development” but not in recreational space for the community. In addition, Montgomery Parks noted that train and Metro tracks that run through downtown Silver Spring “separate this district” from the rest of the downtown area. The new park would be a “critical walk-to public space” for the southern downtown Silver Spring community, according to the parks department.
“This is the opportunity to really offer this service for the community,” Chen said.
The park site was once a National Tire and Battery auto center, according to the Montgomery Parks project website. In late 2021, the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission purchased the property and in the fall of 2022 planners began public outreach to find out what the community wanted in a park.
From fall 2023 to fall 2024, the parks department demolished the vacant auto center building and cleaned up soil contaminated by the prior industrial use of the site, Chen said.
Now that the soil is clean, the upcoming park is expected to feature native trees and pollinator-friendly plants to “enhance the urban ecosystem,” Chen said.
Eventually, Montgomery Parks hopes to acquire the neighboring property, which is currently occupied by a church, Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal, according to Chen. The property owners have indicated that they do not want to sell, Chen said, noting that the parks department could double the size of the urban park if the land could be purchased.
Park naming contest
The parks department will hold a naming contest for the new park, according to Montgomery Parks spokesperson Christina Hudson. The public will be able to vote online from March 17 to May 7 for one of three options:
- Bottleworks Lane Urban Park, which is a nod to the park’s industrial roots and also honors the former Canada Dry Bottling Plant that was at 1202 East West Highway;
- Kennet Street Urban Park, which references the park’s location nestled between Kennet Street and East West Highway; or
- South Silver Spring Urban Park.
