That’s how much money the town of Knightdale has put into an 70-acre park in the middle of town.

Town leaders say that investment will pay off in the form of new homes and a more vibrant Old Town.

Time will tell.

But here are a few things we know from other communities:

•  Open space can be a development plus. As people move out of cities to suburbia, they want room to stretch their legs, figuratively speaking. But as suburbs like Knightdale become ever-more urbanized, people find fewer large lots and homes packed more densely in neighborhoods that routinely set aside the most unbuildable property for open space so residents will still have somewhere to stretch those legs.

The addition of a park that is accessible to a larger percentage of the population is likely to attract builders who believe they can tap into that quality of life asset.

•  The focus of recreation is changing. For many municipal parks and recreation departments, there has long been an emphasis on ball sports. The towns needed playing fields and courts to meet the demands of the ball-playing public. But over the past decade or so, there has been a deemphasis on ball sports and a recognition of the fact that people like being out in nature, going on picnics or watching shows in outdoor venues.

The new Wilder Park gives Knightdale’s parks and recreation department another opportunity to meet the demands of the non-ball-playing set.

•  Economic recovery is often jump-started by government investment. One needs only witness the gigantic investments government made during the Great Depression to see the potential for government to turn an economy around.

The federal government took that attitude in latter stages of the last decade to help Americans skirt through the Great Recession. That is an effort that continues to this day.

On a much smaller scale, local government investment in its infrastructure like Wilder Park could, indeed, spur renewed growth.

If that gamble pays off, everyone will win.