King of Prussia to develop 1.8-acre Recharge Park. It’s an emblem of a grander vision

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King of Prussia District is developing a 1.8-acre outdoor space called Recharge Park adjacent to a nearby all-purpose trail for residents and working professionals to relax.

Recharge Park will feature a lawn, walking path, seating, swings, food truck pull-through and a handful of small rock and plant gardens.

The business improvement district, which represents more than 400 commercial property owners in Upper Merion Township, will be soliciting bids in August and aspires to cut the ribbon on Recharge Park by spring 2026.

Adding the pint-sized park is a small step in a larger effort to improve the physical appearance of the busy commercial corridor, which is one slice of a five-pillar program to drive economic growth in the area.

“It’s high visibility, but it’s an opportunity for us to really bring a park that people can come to in an area that doesn’t have many public open spaces like that,” said Eric Goldstein, founding president and CEO of King of Prussia District.

Business district’s ‘first foray’ in building ‘a full-blown park’

Creating green space in King of Prussia requires collaboration among property owners.

King of Prussia District recently completed a 1.3-mile trail project called First Avenue Linear Park to connect all the commercial property on 1st Avenue through a multimodal trail network.

“That was all negotiated through private partners, through private property owners that had to give us permission, grant us permission to put these improvements on their property. Recharge Park is an extension of that,” Goldstein said. “It’s our first foray into actually building a full-blown park.”

The area will have views of Valley Forge National Park.

“There’s a lot of recycled materials being used in the park. There’s a lot of solar lighting being proposed in the park,” said Patrick J. Stuart, owner of architectural and planning firm Stuart & Associates LLC. “We’re trying to think of sustainability.”

Beautification, cleaning projects bring ‘value’ to residents, business owners

Stuart said green space is critical in making commercial and residential property attractive in the region.

“There’s a lot of competition in the suburban office market and there’s a lot of office buildings surrounding this property,” Stuart said.

Goldstein said one of the great things about King of Prussia is the proximity to several major highway arteries. More than 40 million vehicles pass through annually.

“The downside is that a lot of these highway environments come with a lot of litter,” he said.

Although PennDOT is usually responsible for cleaning such corridors, King of Prussia District recently launched a litter-cleaning program with the agency to lend a helping hand.

“The benefit to all of that is that there is a value to residents, there’s a value to business owners and there’s a value to visitors in places that look like they are cared for and are cared for. And it’s one of the reasons why we build these projects, but even more importantly, it’s the reason why we maintain these projects,” Goldstein said. “So, we never ever implement a project and then walk away from it.”