The Park at Rispin Mansion on Wharf Road was officially completed last December, according to the Sentinel's April report. The city celebrated it on April 21, 2026, with about 30 people gathered at the Capitola Branch Library across the street. The ribbon has been cut and the paths are poured. But the site has had less than one full year of use, and the version on the grounds today is the one the city could pay for. Several features from the original design were cut to stay within budget, and each now has its own path back in. There's a city brick sale open to the public, a public art project waiting on a federal grant, and a Capitola Cares fundraising campaign.
So the park you walk through this fall is still being built. How much of the rest gets done depends on money that hasn't been raised yet, and one of those campaigns closes in about twelve weeks.
What the city built for just over $1 million
Construction started in spring 2024. Capitola's Public Works Department worked with landscape architect Michael Arnone and concrete worker David Wilber, according to Public Works Director Jessica Kahn in the Santa Cruz Sentinel's coverage of the opening. Here is what the work produced:
- An accessible concrete area at the top of the grounds, with a concrete loop around the upper park
- A historic staircase from the upper grounds down to the mansion, rebuilt completely in its original form
- New concrete around the base of the mansion
- A patio, seating and an amphitheater at the foot of the staircase
- A restored 100-year-old fountain and restored balustrades in the railings
The Pajaronian also listed ADA-accessible paths, native and riparian landscaping, a restored garden wall, fencing, lighting and benches.
The final cost came in at just over $1 million. About $170,000 came from Proposition 68, the 2018 state parks measure. Another $50,000 for finishing touches came from Santa Cruz County's Measure Q, passed in 2024. Most of the rest came from redevelopment agency and general funds the city set aside for this project about a decade ago. Earlier estimates were lower. In June 2024, Lookout Santa Cruz reported $949,000. Money set aside ten years ago had to cover 2024 construction prices, which is a large part of why the design kept getting smaller.
Why the mansion itself stays sealed
People see the building first, but the park plan always intended to leave it closed. Henry Allen Rispin built the mansion between 1919 and 1921, after buying a large portion of Capitola, Capitola Historical Museum curator Deborah Osterberg told the Sentinel. Rispin later left. The house changed hands a few times and has stood vacant since 1959.
The city bought the structure in 1985 and the surrounding grounds in 1989. A bed-and-breakfast or hotel was still being discussed when a fire destroyed most of the building in 2009. In 2014 the city chose to turn the grounds into a park and seal off the mansion. Good Times has dated the fire to 2010. The Sentinel's newer account says 2009.
That decision set the pattern for everything since. The city put its limited money into the grounds, the staircase and accessibility, and left the building as a backdrop. Even some of the grounds work didn't fit the budget, and those pieces are the ones still waiting on new money.
The pieces that were cut, and who is paying for them
At the April celebration, Mayor Margaux Morgan called the opening "a feel-good moment," according to the Sentinel. The same article listed what is still pending. Here is where each piece stands as of October 2026, based on the most recent public record for each.
| Project | Who is leading it | Money involved | Latest public status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engraved brick pavers | City of Capitola | About 400 bricks at $200 each, an $80,000 project | Orders open through January 3, 2027; earliest installation spring 2027 |
| Historic sundial restoration | City of Capitola | Paver proceeds, per the Sentinel | No separate budget published |
| Reflecting pool mosaic | Capitola Art and Cultural Commission | $50,000, or $125,000 with an NEA grant | Draft schedule targeted summer 2026 installation; call for artists released by April |
| Rose Arbor and fountain | Capitola Cares | $150,000 goal | No amount raised published |
The bricks have the nearest deadline
The city's brick order page offers one option. It's a 4-by-8-inch engraved brick for $200, with up to three lines of 20 characters each. The order deadline is January 3, 2027. The city's September newsletter places the bricks on the upper terrace above the mansion, around the future home of the reflecting pool mosaic.
The math is tight. A city staff report from April 23, 2026 estimated the full brick project at about $80,000. It said selling about 400 bricks at $200 each would cover it, and put the earliest installation in spring 2027. 400 bricks at $200 comes to exactly $80,000, so there is no surplus built in. The brick project pays for itself only if nearly every brick sells. The Sentinel also reported that paver program proceeds will be used to restore a historic sundial on the property, which budget limits kept out of the original scope. Neither source says whether the sundial work fits inside the $80,000 estimate or needs sales beyond it. The vendor says quantities are limited, but it hasn't published how many have sold.
The mosaic's draft schedule has come due
The reflecting pool is the centerpiece the bricks surround, and right now it doesn't work. The city's Art and Cultural Commission is leading a project to fill it with a mosaic. A draft call for artists in the City Council's November 13, 2025 packet laid out a schedule. Qualifications were due February 1, 2026. An artist would be selected and under contract by April 23. Fabrication and installation would happen in summer 2026, and a dedication would follow this fall.
Those dates were estimates. The same packet said the city had applied for a $75,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant. That grant would raise the artist contract from $50,000 to $125,000. When the park was celebrated in April, the commission had released its call for artists but hadn't named an artist or announced the grant result. I couldn't find a later announcement of either in the public material I reviewed, so anyone expecting a fall 2026 dedication should treat that date as a target, not a commitment. The size of the finished piece depends heavily on the grant.
The arbor and fountain belong to a nonprofit
Capitola Cares, the local nonprofit, has set a $150,000 goal to rebuild the historic Rose Arbor at the north end of the property and restore the ornamental fountain at the south end. The city's April 23 report describes the arbor as having eight pillars. It defines the fountain work as making the existing fountain emitter functional, and it keeps the reflecting pool out of this campaign's scope. Capitola Cares hasn't posted a fundraising total or a completion timeline.
Together, the brick sale and the Capitola Cares campaign are aiming for about $230,000 in community money. The mosaic adds $50,000 to $125,000 from the city's public art fund and the hoped-for grant. By comparison, the city spent just over $1 million to build the park. The two community campaigns alone are reaching for a sum close to a quarter of that.
A fall walk that starts across from the library
The park's upper entrance faces the Capitola Branch Library. A bridge and bike trail cross Soquel Creek from the Nob Hill Foods parking lot to Wharf Road, so the park connects the shopping center to the Village. The amphitheater at the foot of the staircase was built as a gathering place. This is its first fall, and the Village has a full calendar within walking distance of it:
- Saturday, October 17. The Women on Waves surf contest and open water swim.
- Thursday, October 15. The Thursday Night Wine Down with DJ Ryan James at Cocoa Vino, 312 Capitola Avenue, from 7 to 9 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday evenings at Cocoa Vino, 6 to 9 p.m. Brett Fowler plays 70s, 80s and 90s hits on October 17, 23 and 30. Mark Van Haren plays 70s pop-soul on October 24. James Brudnick and Harrison Brand play jazz on November 6, and Gabi and Kayton Rivera play indie and jazz on November 7. No cover charge is listed.
- Sunday, October 25. The Capitola Village Halloween Parade. Lineup starts at 1:30 p.m. in lower Beach & Village Parking Lot 2, behind the Capitola Police Department, and the parade steps off at 2 p.m. A Central Fire engine leads it, with music from the Soquel High Senior Band. The route ends at Esplanade Park, and participating shops offer trick-or-treating afterward.
- Saturday, November 28, noon to 3 p.m. Surfing Santa arrives by kayak and visits children at the Esplanade Stage. The Capitola-Soquel Chamber lists free three-hour Village parking from Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Day.
Surfing Santa falls about five weeks before the brick deadline. I couldn't verify the park's posted hours, dog rules or restrooms in current city material, so check the city's Park at Rispin Mansion page before planning around them.
Over the next year, the Rispin blocks along Wharf Road will gain a paved plaza, a working reflecting pool and a rebuilt arbor, to whatever extent the money comes in. If you own near the library or Soquel Creek and want to talk about what that finished park could mean for your street, Daniel Oster is glad to go over it with you, one block at a time. Let's Connect.
