Skateboarders took a break from testing their skills Wednesday on the revamped Front Skate Park to cheer as St. Paul officials announced they want to build more like it.

St. Paul has two skateboarding parks and has plans to develop a third next year.

The newly designed Front Skate Park in the North End neighborhood upgrades an older course that officials plan to replicate at the East Side’s Arlington/Arkwright Park next year. The city also hopes to build a fourth course on Harriet Island.

“We want to have them in every corner of the city,” Mayor Chris Coleman said at Wednesday’s grand opening of Front Skate Park.

The new course at Front Skate Park is designed so skaters can ride in a circular motion, with obstacles that can be used for tricks in the middle — an upgrade from the older course at the park.

“It’s smoother and better built. You can tell it was made by skaters because the obstacles aren’t just sitting in the middle of the course — there is a flow around them,” said skateboarder Nathaniel Strever, 26, of Lino Lakes.

The course is made with concrete and is more durable — compared with the plastic course it replaced, said Brad Meyer, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department spokesman.

The $350,000 project was funded with money from St. Paul’s Neighborhood Sales Tax Revitalization, or STAR, program.

St. Paul is hoping to capture a growing interest in skateboarding with the additional parks, Meyer said. The city’s current skate parks — at Front Park and Merriam Park — draw skaters from across the region.

“People travel long distances to use the parks in St. Paul,” Meyer said. Staff at the parks see a lot of people using the courses from other cities, he added.

Strever drives about 30 minutes a few times a month from Lino Lakes to use the St. Paul course.

Front Skate Park, at 485 W. Stinson St., is open from sunrise to sunset.

Alex Chhith can be reached at 651-228-5472.