Neighborhood kids began breaking in a brand-new playground structure at Forest Glen Park in Central Point last week.

Dave Jacob, a parks planner for the city of Central Point, said the new structure was more of a “space age” style playground than the original “more traditional” play equipment.

The original structure was built in 1999 and had long surpassed its useful lifespan, Jacob said.

The playground portion of the park was fenced off in late August so the structure could be replaced. A formal dedication ceremony is planned Monday morning.

Jacob said city officials began the process of replacing the playground in January 2021, soliciting community feedback on a total of six designs — three each from playground construction firms in Merlin and Portland.

The final design was approved by the Central Point Parks and Recreation Committee in 2021 and cost just under $170,000 for purchase and installation.

“Forest Glen definitely was due to be replaced. We have been working through replacing all of our park playgrounds, so that one was next one on the list. We started replacing all our parks in 2016. They have a lifespan, and we were bumping up against them in several cases,” Jacob said.

Jacob said Forest Glen is the fourth new play structure in the city since 2016, following replacement of the main play structure at Pfaff Park in the downtown and Flanagan Park, which is along Griffin Creek on the city’s west side.

A new farm-themed playground, Don and Flo Bohnert Park, was constructed in January 2020 on former farmland inside the Twin Creeks transit-oriented neighborhood off North Haskell and West Pine streets.

Future playground replacements include the “2- to 5-year-olds” play structure at Pfaff Park, and the Don Jones Memorial Park playground.

An official welcome for the new playground structure at Forest Glen Park, 1101 Gate Park Drive, is set for 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 30.