XUHUI District will launch renovations on Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Gymnasium, Shanghai Swimming Pool and Dongya Mansion later this year to create the city’s largest sports venue.

The head of the district said on Wednesday that Xujiahui Sports Park would cover 406,000 square meters based on the four sites.

The district government has demolished all illegal structures near the stadium and the gymnasium. Other structures that had no relation to sport have also been torn down to make way for the future park, said Fang Shizhong, director with Xuhui.

The Shanghai Olympic Club hotel, which was opened in 1988, has been demolished, along with the Dongya Exhibition Hall. They will be replaced by hills, ponds, grassland and plazas as well as two ring-shaped running tracks to connect the four venues, according to the Shanghai Planning, Land and Resources Administration.

The renovations will be officially launched soon on the four remaining structures in the area by Caoxi Road N., Lingling Road, Tianyaoqiao Road and Zhongshan No. 2 Road S., Fang said in an interview with Shanghai Radio Station. “The area will become a open urban space to include outdoor sports facilities, major sports venues and grasslands,” Fang said.

The park will meet the demands on sports and exercises of all walks of life. It will become “an outstanding center for sports games, a public playground and classic cultural landmark,” he said.

The city’s top planning body says the park will open round the clock. Trees will be planted to reduce traffic noise and vehicle emissions from a nearby elevated highway, while shrubs will separate various smaller outdoor sports venues within the park. Football pitches and basketball courts will open to the public.

An underground tunnel will connect Metro lines 1 and 11 stations with the sports venues, according to the administration.