Telscer Park Getting Facelift; Officials Want Complete Overhaul

Right on the heels of the School Street Park’s upcoming million-dollar construction plan, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) said he’d also like to do a complete overhaul at the Arthur Telscer Memorial Playground.

Like a park within a park, Telscer sits within Lincoln Park borders at 3151 N. Lake Shore Drive, just south of Belmont Avenue near Belmont Harbor. Tunney said he and the Chicago Park District are planning a facelift at the park, but he’s actually interested in something bigger.

“We are working with the park district on an interim plan at Telscer Park,” Tunney said at a South East Lake View Neighbors meeting. “But eventually I want to do a long-range plan—about a million-dollar venture like up at Margate Park. We were out there three or four weeks ago, and it was pretty impressive.”

Margate Park Fieldhouse is also located within Lincoln Park, but in Uptown a few blocks north of West Lawrence Avenue. And like Tunney said, it’s far more impressive than Telscer.

Sporting amenities like a gymnasium, fitness center, kitchen, dog-friendly areas, community garden and soft-surface playground, Margate Park is a far cry from Telscer’s old, wooden playground.

But Tunney notes the challenges in funding such a massive development.

“I’m looking for money anywhere I can get it,” Tunney said. “The problem with the Margate Park is it’s a $1 million investment, at the least. They used impact fees, aldermanic menu money, not to mention the chairman of the parks committee was the alderman of the (48th) Ward, (former Ald. Mary Ann Smith).”

In the meantime, Telscer Park will receive an update by the CPD by spring. Crews will slap a fresh coat of paint on the swings, replace rotting wood on the playground equipment, repair benches, refresh the mulch and refill the sandbox, Tunney’s Director of Communications Erin Duffy told DNAinfo Chicago. It’ll be the first update there since 1988.

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