Ground was broken this morning on a long-planned skate park in Iowa’s capital city.
The Lauridsen Skate Park is named for a Des Moines businessman who earlier this year donated $1 million to the project – which was struggling to take shape, more than a decade after it was proposed.
“All I had to do was sign my name to a check, but it was a big check,” Nix Lauridsen said. When the $3.5 million skate park bearing his family’s name opens, organizers say it will be the second largest in the country at 70,000 square feet.
It’s expected the Lauridsen Skate Park will be open by late summer or early fall of next year. It’s being built along the Des Moines River near Wells Fargo Arena.