Crumbling LES Bathhouse To Be Replaced With Playing Field

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — An abandoned community center at-risk of collapse will be demolished soon and replaced with a field, the Parks Department said.

The LaGuardia Bathhouse, closed since the 1970s, was quietly determined to be unstable and at-risk of collapse back in mid-December. Since then, Mayor Bill de Blasio has allocated funds to demolish the Parks-owned building to replace it with a synthetic turf field, Parks said.

"The safety of New Yorkers is paramount, and the Mayor has allocated funding for the immediate demolition of the bathhouse and the clearing of the site," said Parks spokesperson Crystal Howard.

The news comes in the midst of community outrage that the East River Park will be bulldozed and closed for construction to protect the east side from coastal flooding. Parks had previously told community members and City Council it was working on a mitigation plan for recreation space for the community and is now eyeing the old bathhouse as an alternate open space.

"The demolition is an opportunity for us to start to provide alternate locations to the community for recreational use during the reconstruction of East River Park," Howard said, noting the turf is an immediate response for open-space needs — especially during the East River Park closure under the East Side Coastal Resiliency project. She added the department would work with community stakeholders for a long-term plan for the site.

On Dec. 10 — the same day dozens gathered to hear about the East River Park closure and resiliency plans — Department of Buildings engineers issued a violation to the bathhouse in Little Flower Playground, saying exterior walls are in "imminent danger" of collapse, according to DOB records. (A DOB spokesperson, however, disputed the records, saying a different type of emergency order could have required demolition that day if collapse was "imminent.")

Nevertheless, the building is expected to be demolished as soon as possible, according to city officials.

Community activists have previously pressed Parks to renovate and reopen the bathhouse — not demolish it. Back in 2007, former Councilmember Alan Gerson once rallied alongside 200 people demanding the city take action, the New York Times reported.

"This building has been a blight on this neighborhood for three decades," Gerson said. Parks, at the time, said the structure "is in such poor condition that it cannot be rehabilitated." A new facility in 2007 would have cost $40 million with $1 million in annual operating costs, according to Parks.

Nearly 12 years later, the derelict building has seemingly worsened.

As it stands, it is cordoned off with fencing and construction barriers nearby a separate ongoing resiliency project at LaGuardia Houses.

DOB violation records say the building is in "extreme state of disrepair" and the steel-framing is corroding.

DOB records show demolition work could start as soon as Feb. 19, though a DOB spokesperson said the deadline is not mandatory so long as the property owner is cooperating with DOB orders.

Housing Preservation and Development, the lead agency on the demolition work, is seeking a contractor and expects to finalize a contract in the coming weeks, an HPD spokesperson confirmed.

Parks said the turf field is expected to open in spring 2020 — around the same time the department expects East River Park to close for 3.5 years.

Councilmember Margaret Chin's spokesperson Rush Perez said her office has encouraged Parks to listen to LaGuardia Houses' tenants association and Community Board 3 regarding the nature of the space, but welcomes more public open space while the East River Park is closed.

The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Photo by Sydney Pereira