Elected Senator for his province, Soldati commissioned the Parks Director for the city of Buenos Aires, French Argentine urbanist Charles Thays, to create a central public park for Tucumán. Thays drafted plans for a 400 hectare (1000 acre) green space to the east of the city, on which work began in 1906. Following the purchase of the remaining needed land, work accelerated on the project and the park was inaugurated on July 9, 1916, the centennial of the Argentine Declaration of Independence.