NEWARK — During a recent tour of Military Park on a frigid afternoon here, Daniel A. Biederman waved his arm at the derelict plaza before him, with its once-proud statuary gazing out at ailing trees and graffiti-covered garbage bins.

“This could be the Bryant Park of Newark, but nobody uses it,” said Mr. Biederman, the urban parks expert who two decades ago transformed that park in Midtown Manhattan from a forbidding drug haven to a jewel-box refuge. “If it was a gorgeous day in June, you’d still have six or eight people here.”

But with the city in the midst of a building boom, Military Park is poised for its own makeover. This spring, ground will be broken on a $3.25 million renovation overseen by Mr. Biederman and his firm, Biederman Redevelopment Ventures.

The plan, Mr. Biederman said, is to replace unhealthy trees, plant a full acre of flowers, build a new cafe and public restroom, repair the Victorian-style lampposts (more than half are broken), create new seating areas and install custom-designed trash bins in the triangular six-acre park.