(Washington, DC) – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty on Friday joined community leaders in a groundbreaking ceremony for Diamond Teague Park, an $8 million waterfront park that will link Nationals Park to the Anacostia River.

“Diamond Teague committed his life to restoring, protecting and preserving the Anacostia River,” Mayor Fenty said. “This park will be a fitting tribute to his legacy and it will mark our commitment as a city to carry on his work.”

The park is named after 19-year-old Diamond Teague, a member of the Earth Conservation Corps (ECC) who was murdered in 2003. The ECC members – many live in communities along the river’s banks – work to improve the river’s health and protect the plant and animal species that call the Anacostia home.

The park will be built at First Street and Potomac Avenue SE. It will connect the ballpark to a pair of public piers and a 20-mile network of waterfront trails. A 250-foot pier will be built to host commercial vessels such as water taxis and charter boats. The pier will also include slips for the ECC and the District’s fire and life safety vessels.

The park will feature a separate 200-foot environmental pier for educational groups, kayaks and canoes. The piers are expected to be complete by baseball’s Opening Day, April 13, 2009.

Construction and planting work on the upland portion of the park will be completed by July. Muralist Byron Peck and City Arts are also working to complete a memorial dedicated to Diamond Teague that will be unveiled later this summer.

The cost of the $8 million park is being covered through dedicated revenue streams tied to a number of adjacent economic development projects that surround the park including Florida Rock’s one million square foot mixed-used project directly to the West of the park and JBG’s US Department of Transportation headquarters building to the East.