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A federal grant will cover half the cost of upgrades to the International District鈥檚 Mesa Verde Park.

The park will receive $1,350,000 of the $254 million that the National Park Service is allocating in grants. The Interior Department, which , called it the largest investment in the history of the Land and Water Conservation Fund鈥檚 Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program.

Of the 54 projects that will receive funding, Mesa Verde Park is the only New Mexico park on the list.

Mayor Tim Keller stopped by the park briefly on Wednesday, which is in state Senate District 17, where he was elected in 2008 and began his .

鈥淲e know this area has had challenges for a long time, for decades, and we want to make sure that everyone knows in this part of the city but also throughout the city is that we are not going to give up on our older historic neighborhoods,鈥� Keller said. 鈥淓specially the International District.鈥�

Among the upgrades to the park are converting the tennis courts to basketball and pickleball courts, play sets for children, adding trees, lighting a dog park and creating a loop path that connects the art structures.

鈥淚t is so important to provide green space 鈥� easy access to green space 鈥� in an urban environment, urban setting,鈥� said Dennis Vasquez, deputy director of the city鈥檚 Parks and Park and Recreation Department. 鈥淲e know the health benefits; mental, spiritual and physical health benefits correlate very closely to access to green space.鈥�

In addition to the courts, grass and art, the park is also the home of .

Keller said the project was influenced by the area鈥檚 residents, some of whom are his former neighbors who asked when the city would invest in La Mesa Neighborhood as other projects and improvements popped up around the area.

鈥淎s we fixed up and then said we鈥檙e fixing up , La Mesa neighborhood was like, 鈥榃hat about us? Like, we鈥檙e the other cornerstone of the International District,鈥欌�� Keller said. 鈥淚 said, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e next. I just need a couple of extra million dollars,鈥� and that鈥檚 what we got today.鈥�

He declined to say what neighborhood in his old political district would receive attention and upgrades next.

鈥淲ith this one, I think we鈥檝e got to work on execution, right? We have designs, but we got to get the firm, we鈥檝e got to map it out, we鈥檝e got to lock in the cost and make sure that we can totally deliver on this.鈥�

The estimated cost of the upgrades to the park is $2,600,000 with the city still ponying up its half of the cost.

Construction is expected to take roughly 20 months. A date has not been set for groundbreaking.