Grogan Community Park in Modesto is about to be so much more than soccer

The second phase of Mary Grogan E. Community Park development in north Modesto is set to be completed by the end of summer or beginning of fall.

The nine-acre expansion includes a cricket pitch, a playground, three bathroom buildings, a shade structure, a grassy area, lighting and security cameras. The playground will have two play sets — one for ages 2 to 5, the other for ages 6 to 12.

The park off Sylvan Avenue east of Enochs High School at this point consists of a seven-field soccer complex.

The park’s master plan was approved by the Modesto City Council in 2004. Named after the city’s former parks and recreation director, it opened to the public in 2013 with the soccer fields.

In June 2024, the City Council approved a bid from Modesto-based contractor George Reed, Inc. to work on the second phase.

Nathan Houx, park planning and development manager for Modesto, emphasized the importance of this project. He said it will provide a space for family gatherings and offer a variety of activities for their children.

“I think this project is obviously important because it provides a lot of these community elements where the neighbors can come and they can have a large picnic, family event or whatever, they can play at the playground,” Houx said. “I feel like that’s an important piece of a community park is to be able to have all those different types of events.”

Houx said the idea behind building a cricket pitch — the first in a Modesto city park — came after community groups voiced their interest to the city.

“We had a lot of community groups that were interested in a cricket pitch in Modesto, and there seems to be a large group of folks who would use that if we had one,” Houx said. “We had to find a park that had a very large grass area, and we realized that the second phase of Grogan was a very large grass area that could very easily be used by the cricket pitch.”

According to the agenda report from the June 2024 meeting, the project will cost $5.6 million and will have three sources of funding. The Park Capital Facility Fee Fund is expected to provide $2.96 million, while the remaining $2.6 million will come from Park & Air Quality Capital Facility Fee. The project’s construction will cost nearly $4.5 million.

The second phase broke ground in August and initially was expected to be completed this spring. Les McWilliams, a senior project manager at George Reed, said late equipment arrival and wet winter weather were the main delays.

“When it’s wet, we’re not able to work outside because we end up [ruining] the ground and actually destroying the area that we just improved,” McWilliams said.

Sonya Severo, the public relations and legislative affairs manager for the city, stated in an email to The Bee that the park hours will be the same as the soccer complex, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Even with much anticipation around the park attracting more families, Houx said he believes the parking lot of more than 500 spaces is enough to meet demand.

“The number of parking spaces was designed based on the full construction of the project,” Houx said. “There’s enough parking there for everything that is designed in the project.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM.