Massive in scale , Northeast Regional skatepark features a 16-foot cradle, 13-foot vertical extension, and a 12-foot deep vert bowl with stamped tiles and pool block coping.

Located near the intersection of McCombs and US 54 at Northeast Regional Park, this 25,000 square foot dream was funded by the 2012 Quality of Life (QOL) bond initiative. It was the first QOL project to break ground. The price tag? A cool $1.4 million.

Pushing the vote

With initial design for the Northeast Regional skatepark complete, funding for it’s construction was not guaranteed until voter overwhelmingly supported passage of the Proposition 1 Quality of Life Bond Initiative at the polls – 75% in favor – on November 6, 2012.

“EPS promoted Vote Yes on Prop 1 vigorously,” said EPSA Board Member Jaime Favela. “We feared controversy from the downtown ballpark project – funded by City Council without voter approval – might create a backlash against funding for other public project in neighborhoods.”

Prop 1 authorized the issuance of $245 million of general obligation bonds for parks, recreation, open space and zoo improvements.

In addition to Northeast Regional construction, the City of El Paso’s 3-year-rollout plan for bond projects also included funding for the design of two eastside skateparks at Hueco (Eastside) Regional and a concrete conversion upgrade for the metal Skatewave ramps at Dick Shinault.

California Skateparks, the same company that builds the X-Games and Olympic skateboarding courses, was hired to handle all specialty concrete.

“We started on this project more than 3 years ago,” said a very proud District 5 Northeast City Representative Carl Robinson at a June 12, 2013 ribbon-cutting ceremony to kick off construction.

Using public input acquired from two design meetings with local skaters in October and December 2011, Site Design Group created the world-class layout which features and Etnies capsule replica, vert bowl with tiles and pool block coping, snake run and a modern street course.

“Snake runs are making a big comeback, just look at the parks in Arvada, Colorado, Venice Beach and now here,” said Favela.

“It pays homage to the snake runs we had her in the late 1970’s with Desert Surfing and Earth Surf skateboard park. Now, a new generation of skaters will get a taste – snakers are great fun and really good for beginners to learn how to pump and carve on.”

 

3D rendering

The City of El Paso folks boldly promoted Northeast Regional in their “Building Tomorrow Together” campaign.

Here’s the final 3D rendering after several rounds of refining the layouts with SITE Design Group – the snake run bowl was separated from the big flow bowl. A doorway, instead of a steep ant hill, connects the big flow bowl to the vert bowl.

Merry Christmas 2013

The first shotcrete went down late December 2013, just before the California Skateparks crew broke for Christmas.

Strategically, the flat-bottom would not get concrete until several months later to deter poaching right? Wrong.

Our good buddy Ryan Armendariz made the Christmas trip home from Albuquerque and barged the candy store to claim the sketchy, first grinds sans flat-bottom in the construction zone!

Saving the tiles & pool coping

With construction plans 90% complete, EPSA noticed that the City engineering folks decided to eliminate all pool block coping and tiles from the design claiming long-term maintenance headaches.

EPSA immediately called City Rep Carl Robinson who stepped up and ordered a special meeting with the city department heads from engineering, parks and general services.

When the dust settled, all parties agreed to the EPSA-offered solution of stamping the tiles – maintenance free – and placing pool coping blocks in select areas on bigger walls making them harder to power grind and destroy.

The tipping point for keeping the pool coping?

EPSA was able to show Tedder Stone spec sheets indicating the pounds per square inch (PSI) fracture point of a skatepark-specific pool coping product (like Tedder Stone or Golden State) tested at 9 to 12 thousand PSI – up to 3 times harder than the 4-thousand PSI of skatepark shotcrete. Thanks to Phil Tedder for helping on this one!

For a stronger bond, California Skateparks attached the coping blocks with a 2-part epoxy instead of a traditional mortar bed which can sometimes result in popped-blocks.

Concrete sculptures

Building the big flow bowl and especially the Etnies cradle replica is a fascinating, multi-step process. Thankfully, CA Skateparks built the original Etnies cradle so this wasn’t their first rodeo!

Step 1 is to build the concrete bottom half of the cradle. Step 2 involved building the cradle top’s “back form” metal frame on the existing concrete rim. Step 3 involved shooting and finishing shotcrete and ultimately removing all the crazy formwork.

We had full confidence in CA Skateparks Project Manager Mario Rodriguez. He was super-friendly, an expert concrete man, and came off more debonair than Ricky Ricardo – the Hollywood star from the popular 1950’s TV show  “I Love Lucy.”

 

By April 2014, California Skateparks had wrapped up construction.

Unfortunately, the skatepark opening was delayed for 3 months, leaving impatient skaters on edge staring at an awesome finished park, the temporary construction fence up, and a security guard on-site to shoo away poachers.

Why the delay?

Apparently, City folks called for an 11th hour “do-over” on the big bowl drain design – this meant re-digging a 20-plus foot deep hole and replacing pipe parts to allow for better maintenance. Then, there was some kind of lingering delay on the main park entrance marquee sign – the full scope of the project included not only the skatepark build, but also a parking lot, ponding areas, landscaping and a marquee sign. And the City doesn’t like to “buy” projects from the contractor until it’s completely finished.

The skatepark finally opened on June 12, 2014. Hundreds of skates, bikers, City officials, project contributors and lurkers showed up for the grand opening ceremonial speeches and a ribbon cutting.

Opening day – June 12, 2014

The El Paso Times newspaper showed up to cover the grand opening ceremonies.

Diego Alvarado (not the listed Joe Vargas) got the big feature photo in the Borderland section with this frontside blast in the 12-foot vert bowl.

Local vert legend Anguelo Salgado pushed hard for the deep terrain during the design process saying “we need this!”

Future vert rippers like Will Cortez agree after throwing huge frontside stalefish airs on the face wall at the “For The Love” contest.

Too BIG? Nonsense!

Some folks were critical saying the skatepark was “too big” – nonsense!

Others, like local BMX rider Ray Varela, are quick to disprove those small-thinking notions, captured here speeding upside down in the cradle way above the 10 o’clock tile line. Photo credit: John Martinez.

Notably, the City’s original rules signs did not permit bikes at NE Regional. But City cops dismissed the idea of enforcing the “no bikes” mandate, saying they had more important matters to attend to…

All ambiguity ended in late 2015. Thanks to a strong recommendation from EPSA, Parks recanted on BMX restrictions and came back with a more inclusive policy and new rules signage.

September 22, 2014

No, it’s not swim in the skatepark pool day.

The NOAA estimates some counties in West Texas received 10 to 20 inches of rain in the one-week period from Sept. 15-22.

Severe flash flooding in Northeast El Paso on Monday morning Sept. 22 saw muddy waters filling the skatepark to the brim.

Photo credit: Phil Sullivan

Blood Wizard

On May 2, 2015, the Blood Wizard crew comprised of Chriss Gregson, Tristen Moss, Jerry Gurney, Anakin Senn, Drew Dezort and Jack Given inspired locals with a pro skate demo at NE Regional. These guys ripped hard!

In classic rock star fashion, Gurney and Gregson wrapped the El Paso leg of their #TexMexWizardTrip with a product toss from atop their trusty transport. Photo: Steven Levas

More mania always at BloodWizard.com

Get there

Northeast Regional skatepark is located near the major intersection of McCombs and US 54 – look for the softball field light poles and you’re almost there.

Official “listed” park address is 11270 McCombs, but just get to the intersection of McCombs and Rick Husband Drive and you’ll see the park entrance.

When entering NE Regional (aka Joey Barraza and Vino Memorial Park) go left at the roundabout circle and you’ll find the skatepark tucked in the corner.