Titletown District park and plaza taking shape

Green Bay Press Gazette

ASHWAUBENON – The Green Bay Packers Titletown District is barreling toward a fall opening of its public park and plaza.

Aerial photo of the Titletown District taken on June 16, looking at the Lombardi Avenue and Ridge Road intersection in Ashwaubenon. At left is the Lodge Kohler. Hinterland Brewery is in the center with the sledding hill behind it and BellinHealth facility at top right.

"Of all the aspects of the Titletown District, I think the park and plaza is unique. A private developer would not have as much space devoted to a park and plaza," said Mark Murphy, Packers president/CEO, during a media tour of the site on Tuesday.

Titletown District is a 35-acre commercial, recreational and residential development immediately west of Lambeau Field. Its anchors include Hinterland Brewery, which opened in April, Lodge Kohler hotel and spa, scheduled to open July 18, and Bellin Health Sports Medicine & Orthopedics clinic, scheduled for a July 25th ribbon-cutting.

The 10-acre park and plaza part of the district will include a sledding hill and ice skating pond, promenades, adult game area, playgrounds and an NFL-sized football field. The first phase focuses on six acres of the public space and includes each of those features.

"We have two to four acres that are not designed yet," said Ed Policy, Packers vice president heading up Titletown development. "If anybody has any ideas, we'd love to hear about them."

Construction continues Tuesday on the Green Bay Packers Titletown District Tuesday, June 27, 2017. A worker on a lift hovers behind the sledding hill tower being built just west of Lambeau Field in Ashwaubenon, Wis.

Much of the park and plaza is scheduled to open in mid-September.

The centerpiece of the park is a snow-tubing hill and ice-skating pond and trail, which are scheduled to open in late November, when colder temperatures will make it possible to make snow and ice.

At its highest point, the tubing-hill structure rises 60 feet. The crest of the hill is 45 feet high and 45 feet wide at the top, flaring to 60 feet wide at ground level. It has a 30-degree slope for 150 feet, then levels off across another 150 feet.

It is designed to attract thrill-seeking 13-year-olds, as Murphy said Tuesday.

And likely every other age as well.

In summer, the grassy incline will be used for programmed events, a park for lounging and picnicking, and a natural amphitheater.

Construction work at the Green Bay Packers Titletown District development continues to show progress Tuesday, June 27, 2017. The sledding hill rises in the as the kids play area takes shape in the foreground in Ashwaubenon, Wis.

The underside of the hill will include a warming space and snack bar, a tube-rental stand and event space on the second floor with views to the west end of the park.

Trees have been planted in the park and plaza area, including a large evergreen that will center the island around which the skating path will go. The open skating pond and path, which also will go under the tubing hill, are just a little smaller than a standard ice hockey rink, Murphy said.

Also under construction is a service building that will include bathrooms, heating and cooling equipment, and Zamboni storage.

Immediately west of the hill, a football-themed playground and full-size lighted football field with artificial surface are taking shape, as is an area for games, such as bocce ball, pickle ball, shuffleboard and others.

For practical purposes, the park this season will end at the western end of the football field.

The Packers are working with the village of Ashwaubenon on the design for the remainder of the Titletown District, including residential townhouses and apartments. The team is expected to reveal those details later this summer.

Also Tuesday, the Packers unveiled their new Titletown District logo, locked "T"s with a goal post between them. The logo was designed by Appleton native and University of Wisconsin graduate Michael Gericke of Pentagram, a New York design firm.