SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A decades-old plan will finally come to fruition, as the Broadway Pier parking lot in San Diego’s Embarcadero is transforming into the new Freedom Park at Navy Pier.
Amid some rainfall on Thursday, officials with the USS Midway Museum, the Port of San Diego, and City of San Diego grabbed golden sledgehammers and chipped away at the parking lot that was once a pier.
Once completed, Freedom Park will be the largest military veterans park on the West Coast.
The park, expected to be completed in 2028, will be about 10 acres and will include a garden, a play park for kids, and several monuments honoring historic moments in San Diego's Navy history.
Efforts to build Freedom Park did not come without its challenges.
Port of San Diego Chair Frank Urtasun said there were big undertakings that paved the way for the park to be built.
"First, getting the USS Midway here, that’s a big task. There were a lot of naysayers back then, but we got the approved," Urtasun said. "Then we got the Navy Pier transferred to California then to the Port of San Diego."
Urtasan said there were critics who pushed back against Freedom Park because it would eliminate hundreds of parking spots for the busy USS Midway Museum, obstruct the ocean view, and more.
"We just kept our eyes on the prize," Urtasan said.
For veterans in San Diego, they say they hope Freedom Park serves as a reminder that San Diego is a military town.
Emmett Durnan, a retired Commander in the U.S. Navy said, "We need to maintain that knowledge and connection to the military and that idea of service to the country. It's so important with so few people serving in the military now, that we keep that alive."
