116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids looks to refresh Tree of Five Seasons Park
City staff also intend to pursue roadway improvements along an adjacent portion of First Street NE.
Jan. 27, 2026 6:49 pm
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CEDAR RAPIDS — The city of Cedar Rapids is looking to refresh the Tree of Five Seasons Park to revitalize the riverfront gathering space.
Cedar Rapids City Council members on Tuesday adopted the plans, specification and form of contract for an estimated $2.79 million Tree of Five Seasons park refresh and adjacent roadway improvement along First Street NE.
The project calls for the creation of a plaza and pedestrian promenade to loop around the iconic downtown sculpture and stretch out to a river-facing outlook built into the recently constructed flood wall.
“We’re doing our best so that you don’t really feel and see the flood wall there. You see the park,” said Rob Davis, the city’s flood control system manager. It’s “flood control in plain sight.”
The Tree of Five Seasons monument, built in the 1990s as a representation of the city’s logo, was relocated in 2024 to accommodate ongoing improvements to the city’s permanent flood control system. The sculpture moved just 80 feet to the east, but the construction of the nearby flood wall effectively removed all previously existing park components.
Davis said the goal now is to improve the area around the sculpture and restore it to a functional park space.
Plans to do so include the construction of an accessible walking path that will slope up from the intersection of First Avenue and First Street to stretch around and past the 60-foot monument to the outlook feature. A second walking path will connect the area down to the Cedar River.
Seating will be added to the plaza area, and the project also calls for lighting and landscape improvements.
“This project started out, in terms of the public’s perception, as a simple gesture of moving the Tree of Five Seasons, … but it is really an incredibly complicated project because of the flood control system” aspect, noted City Council member Dale Todd.
The nearly $2.8 million price tag for the project also will cover improvements along a nearby portion of First Street NE. The projects are not inherently related, Davis said, but were paired together given their physical proximity and to reduce public impacts from construction.
The plan is to convert the portion of First Street NE between E Avenue NE and First Avenue to two-way traffic through the addition of a northbound component too better distribute traffic around and between First Avenue and Interstate 380.
Construction on the overall project is set to begin in April with completion slated for this fall.
Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com
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