Malden River Works Park Is Open. The Part That Puts You on the River Comes Next.

From the paths at 356 Commercial Street, a walkway of flat stone slabs edged with boulders runs down to an aluminum gangway and a long floating dock on the Malden River. Behind it are young birches, still staked, with green watering bags around their trunks. Past those sits a wide stretch of pale sand, waiting for a building that hasn't been built yet. The Civic Broadside's opening-day photo essay recorded all three, and together they explain the park better than any rendering.

Malden River Works Park opened on Sunday, October 4. The Mystic River Watershed Association calls it the first riverfront park in Malden's history. What opened is the half of the project that brings you to the river's edge. The half that would let you use the river is still that sand pad, plus a funding question.

What opening day looked like

More than 300 people came out that afternoon. The event began with a blessing of the land and water by Thomas "Spirit Tree" Green of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag. Then came live music, face painting, a children's storytime with Malden Reads, and pontoon boat rides off the new dock. Speakers included Mayor Gary Christenson, Steering Committee chair Marcia Manong, state Undersecretary Katherine Antos, Friends of the Malden River president Karen Buck and MyRWA executive director Patrick Herron.

The pontoon rides are worth remembering. According to the announcements, they were part of the celebration. They are not a regular service. For one afternoon, people got a ride on the river that Phase 1 wasn't built to provide on its own.

What Phase 1 actually built

The City of Malden's August 31 announcement puts the park directly on the river, behind the Department of Public Works building. It lists a plaza, a flexible lawn, picnic tables, play areas, waterfront paths and a floating dock. Most of the work is underground or easy to miss. Crews excavated and remediated the soil, raised the park's grades above the sea level rise projected for 2070, and installed a stormwater system that holds up to 14,055 cubic feet of water. Above ground there's a bioretention garden in front of the DPW building, and the City counts more than 250 new trees from over 20 native species.

So the park does two jobs. It's a riverfront for residents, and it's flood control for a DPW yard that has had flooding problems for years. When Mayor Christenson opened it, he named both, along with "supporting our crew team."

The Civic Broadside's walk-through adds what the press releases leave out. It describes asphalt and gravel paths, tall black light columns, picnic tables facing different views, and seating walls that could hold "a hundred feet of seating." The paper also photographed a posted sign saying the area closes at dusk. With November's early sunsets, that sign matters if you plan to stop by after work.

The empty middle is the boathouse

The sandy expanse at the center of the park is the foundation for Phase 2. The Civic Broadside describes it as the base for a future boathouse and a salt shed. Here's how each piece stands right now:

The boathouse already has a name and its first big gift. In August the Adelaide Breed Bayrd Foundation gave the City $500,000 toward it, and the building will be called The Bayrd Boathouse. The City says it will mainly serve Malden High School's crew team. It will also have public restrooms open to everyone using the park. Speaking for the foundation's trustees, Henry "Hank" Kezer said it will "support the activities of all of Malden's citizens, and provide a new athletic venue for its students."

The $500,000 is a big piece of a larger bill. In January the Malden Advocate reported that the City Council voted unanimously to let the City apply for a $1.5 million HUD Section 108 loan. At that point Phase 2 was estimated at $4.1 million, with about $1.1 million in existing grants set aside for it. That vote approved an application, not a loan. The City's own August wording, "pending funding," is still the most current word on when work starts.

That's why the sand pad matters so much. Restrooms, crew launches and any public rental program all sit on it. Until the boathouse is built, the park works best for a walk, a picnic or a playground stop, with the river as the view.

How the park fits the rest of the river

Karen Buck of Friends of the Malden River described the park in terms bigger than one site:

"This is a keystone for the beginning of a true Malden riverwalk and a vibrant Malden River for the whole community."

"Beginning" is the right word. The Mystic River Watershed Association's Malden River Greenway page describes a plan for a continuous park system on both banks through Malden, Medford and Everett. When that effort began in 2017, just over one mile of the river's 3.5 miles of shoreline was accessible green space. Malden River Works adds Malden's own piece to that count. Most of the riverfront you can reach today is still across the water or down the river:

• Rivergreen Park, Everett. On the opposite bank, with a half-mile waterfront path, restored shoreline, picnic area, playing fields and a boat launch.
• The Park at River's Edge, Medford. Near the Tufts Boathouse at 177 Rivers Edge Drive. It was the meeting point for the April 12, 2026 river cleanup run by Friends of the Malden River, Tisch College, Tufts Athletics, Gentle Giant Rowing and MyRWA.
• The National Grid frontage. About 2,000 feet of shoreline that MyRWA lists as still inaccessible. A conceptual path plan for it was drawn up in 2019.

In April, MyRWA published a Mystic Greenways plan that counts Malden River Works as one project in a proposed 25-mile network from the Mystic Lakes to Boston Harbor. That network is still a proposal. For now the Malden park is its own stretch of riverbank, not a stop on a continuous trail.

Before you get on the water

Malden's dock is in, but there are no rentals here yet. Paddlers who want a boat can look at the canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals MyRWA lists on the Mystic at Blessing of the Bay in Somerville and Condon Shell in Medford. On the water quality side, MyRWA's 2023 report card listed the Malden among the tributaries with low overall grades. The more useful tool day to day is MyRWA's boating advisory page. It posts a daily prediction for the Malden River at Revere Beach Parkway and notes that advisories are most likely for one to two days after heavy rain.

MyRWA usually posts its events about a month ahead, so its calendar is the place to watch for the next Malden River cleanup or paddle. Updates on Phase 2 will come through the Malden River Works team and the City.

A park built mostly with outside money

According to MyRWA, the project has been paid for entirely with grants so far, from 18 federal, state, local and private programs. They include FEMA, the National Park Service, HUD, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, the Malden Community Protection Act and an anonymous private donor. The work started in 2019 with MIT's inaugural Leventhal City Prize. It has been guided by a steering committee of resident leaders of color, working with environmental and government partners. Phase 2 depends on that same grant-by-grant approach. Marcia Manong said the Bayrd gift "is helping us get closer to the finish line."

This winter, the park at 356 Commercial Street offers paths, a lawn, seating walls and a dock you can walk out to and look up the river from, all before dusk.

We've watched the Malden River corridor for a long time, and a new public riverfront near Commercial Street is the kind of change we follow street by street. If you'd like to talk about how the park and the planned boathouse fit into your part of Malden, Madelyn Garcia Real Estate is happy to sit down with you, in English or en español. Ask us for a free home valuation and local market consultation.