The new Newcastle beach skate park and Bathers Way project is weeks from completion with just final touches to be put on the $20 million project.
The Newcastle Herald was given a behind the scenes look on July 30 at the almost completed site, which features a $1.8 million wheelchair accessible skate bowl and terrain park, a kiosk seating and outdoor exercise equipment.
The site opening will also reconnect Shortland Esplanade to King Edward Park via a new shared path forming part of the Bathers Way.
City of Newcastle could not confirm when the skate park would open to the public, but it is expected to be complete and ready in the next few weeks with a community fun day penciled in for the second half of August.
Some skaters have been spotted in the construction site after hours testing out the new bowl.
Professional skateboarder George Richards was also invited to give the park a test run during the site inspection on July 30.
"I love it. It's incredible," he said.
"It's nice to have something that's in such an incredible location.
"I'm just so happy that we've got a space like this and I'm excited to use it as much as I can."
Richards said the park combined two major disciplines - street skating and park skating, both of which feature in the Olympic Games.
"It's something we haven't seen anywhere else really close to here," he said.
"Quite often you have to choose between going to a street style skate park or a park style skate park."
The Bar Beach skate park includes a deeper bowl targeted at more advanced skateboarders, while South Newcastle has more beginner to intermediate level equipment.
"It's somewhere that we can go and practice different tricks out and have quite a lot more fun without being as dangerous as skating Bar Beach," Richards said.
"So we can come here and relax while still doing incredible tricks.
"It's going to be a really good spot for beginner skaters. It has smaller quarter pipes, but also leading up to bigger quarter pipes.
"You find a lot of the time that people will build a park specifically for beginners and they'll get stuck at that beginner park and never really progress past that but this park offers more chance to progress."
Work on the park and Bathers Way started in August 2020 and at the time was quoted as a two year project, but the site has faced cost blowouts, lengthy delays and the collapse of the initial building company.
Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said she was proud of the council's investment in the Bathers Way.
"City of Newcastle's upgrade of Bathers Way at South Newcastle Beach will renew and revitalise the area, creating a vibrant and attractive hub for visitors and residents, while upgrading the pedestrian and cycle path links in this section of the Bathers Way," she said.
Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen said the project would activate a previously tired and underutilised part of the Newcastle coastline, while the skate park would "provide a unique drawcard to promote ongoing visitation and activation of this area".
