Greensboro celebrates completion of four‑mile Downtown Greenway after 25‑year effort

Dabney Sanders, project manager for the Downtown Greenway, opened the ceremony and credited the project’s completion to years of community engagement and a public‑private partnership with Action Greensboro and the City of Greensboro. "This has really happened because of the dedicated and visionary work of so many people," Sanders said.

Tripp Brown, inaugural co‑chair of the Downtown Greenway Oversight Committee, said the work stretched roughly 25 years across six mayors and eight city managers and recounted the effort to secure the Norfolk Southern right‑of‑way, which he said was purchased in 2014. "The cost is about $54 million," Brown said, adding that, in his account, the city, state and federal governments contributed about $40 million and the private sector about $14 million.

Brown told the crowd he calculates buildings totaling more than $600 million have been built within a quarter mile of the Greenway and estimated annual tax receipts of roughly $3.7 million, which he characterized as an annual return of about 9.25 percent.

Susan Schwartz, founding executive director of Action Greensboro and current executive director of the Seamless Foundation, framed the project with four takeaways: the Greenway sets Greensboro apart, it will attract additional economic development (she cited an 11:1 development ratio referenced earlier), it represents a successful public‑private initiative supported by bonds and mixed public funding, and the opening is the start of ongoing programming and connectivity efforts. "This is a beginning," Schwartz said.

Mayor Mary Kay Abuzuaiter praised city staff and volunteers and described the Greenway as a legacy asset that connects neighborhoods, businesses, schools and cultural destinations. "This is Greensboro. This is one of your legacies," the mayor said, thanking staff across city departments for their work.

City Manager Trey Davis thanked private investors, nonprofit partners and city staff and said stewardship of the Greenway will continue through a soon‑to‑be‑established Friends of the Downtown Greenway group. "The Downtown Greenway reflects years of vision, collaboration and commitment from our community partners," Davis said.

Chelsea Phelps of Greensboro’s Parks and Recreation department invited council members, committee volunteers, maintenance staff and the public to participate in a staged ribbon cutting that will stretch along the route and include shared scissors and pause points to accommodate the large crowd.

The ceremony combined acknowledgments of longtime volunteers and city staff with details on funding and claimed economic impacts; speakers emphasized continued programming and stewardship rather than announcing new formal actions or votes.