Prospect Park’s Lakeside Center Gets $1.6M Pledge

The JPMorgan Chase Foundation has recently pledged $1.6 million toward the ongoing construction of Lakeside Center, which will host ice skating and hockey in the winter and roller skating and water features in the summer.

The $74 million, 26-acre Lakeside project also includes the ongoing restoration of the original Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux landscape design for Prospect Park. With the pledge, Lakeside will also feature the “Chase Café” and three Chase education and event rooms.

“Chase was one of the first corporations to partner with the Prospect Park Alliance almost three decades ago, before we decided to build Lakeside,” said Prospect Park Alliance President Emily Lloyd, in a statement.

Currently in construction, Lakeside is a 25,000-square-foot building designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects that will qualify for LEED certification. It features both indoor and outdoor space with two rinks (30,000-square-feet in total skating surface). By constructing a new facility on the site of the old (and now demolished) Wollman Rink parking lot, five acres are being added to the lake as well as three acres of parkland. It is estimated Lakeside will accommodate three times the number of year-round visitors when compared to the old rink.

“Lakeside will allow even more New Yorkers to enjoy one of our city’s most celebrated parks by opening up the rink to year-round activities and expanding recreational space,” said New York City Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, in a statement.

With the support from Chase, nearly 85% of funding for the project has now been secured from public and private sources. The Prospect Park Alliance looks forward to welcoming additional donors to help fund Lakeside. Expected completion of the Lakeside Center is winter 2012/2013.