Venice Island Now Open in Manayunk

It’s official: the Venice Island Performing Arts & Recreation Center is now open to the public. A ribbon cutting event, attended by Mayor Michael Nutter and other city officials, was held Tuesday to mark the occasion.

The $46 million project is a collaboration between the Philadelphia Water Department, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and the Manayunk community.

The project, located between the Manayunk Canal and the Schuylkill River, features the Venice Island Performing Arts and Recreation Center, plus a four million gallon Philadelphia Water Department storage basin unit. The project also includes green storm water infrastructure, including tree trenches, a pump house with a green roof and a subsurface basin that can temporarily store diverted flow from the sanitary interceptor sewer.

“The project not only protects and improves the health of the Schuylkill River, but also includes a full-scale reconstruction of the recreational facilities and community amenities, including a new state-of-the-art recreation and performing arts facility, new athletic fields, a children’s play area and spray park and a new parking lot,” according to a statement by the Philadelphia Water Department.

(Image: Manayunk.com Facebook)