User:Rafaelmarimon/sandbox

I moved to Tallahassee five years ago. One of the first places I visited was Cascades Park.

When I saw my home county carved into the marble walkway, I felt reaffirmed in my decision. I am guilty of only knowing Cascades Park as one thing — a most distinguished asset to Tallahassee’s downtown.

I have, however, seen how residents have adopted the park in the years since. The city has built new parks and stormwater facilities since completing Cascades, but few are as great, and none is as constant in our collective imagination of what Tallahassee is.

We can all acknowledge that time has brought change for Cascades and the surrounding area. The Cascades development is the largest of such changes to date. It will not be the last change. Cities are always changing.

More: Cascades development a 'dagger in the heart' of the park | Opinion

City planners conceived of Cascades Park not only as an asset to the public, but as a means to revitalize an entire corridor. Cascades would act as a beacon for our tired downtown.

The intent of Cascades Park has always been to draw residents, as well as new life, into the heart of Tallahassee. We have accomplished both, dramatically improving our quality of life.

This strategy has been used in many similar-sized cities with great success. Knoxville has the Sunsphere, Greenville has Falls Park, Grand Rapids has its Downtown Market. These large-scale public investments serve as amenities to the public but are unambiguously situated to spur redevelopment.

Cascades Park has also spurred private redevelopment. North American Properties will inject $150 million of private investment into our downtown with its development. The project provides additional housing, retail, entertainment and hospitality venues that are crucial to attaining a well-functioning downtown.

The project comes at little cost to our public infrastructure or environment, plus infill redevelopment avoids the plague of new roads and utility expansions prominent with suburban sprawl.

It’s no secret Tallahassee has a strained relationship with growth. Feuding between developers and the public is common. Just blocks away, neighbors in Myers Park have been fighting the Cascades Garden developer’s attempt to demolish a historic home on the project site. But there are no such standing issues with the Cascades Project.

This project does not encroach on Cascades Park, but rather complements it. What previously was a walkway is now an outdoor promenade with grand stairs and dividing fountains.

The new support space for our amphitheater will allow for more flexible use of the space. The project preserves the former County Health Unit and the Old City Waterworks building.

I can’t see this development as anything other than a win. It’s not a dagger, it’s a jump-start.

Rafael Marimon, a transplant from South Florida, is an investment consultant and loan officer with Range Mortgage. He is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, a Fellow for the New Leaders Council and a co-founder of Grow Tallahassee.