Inwood Hill Park's Fields Are Getting $7.5M Renovation, Pol Says

INWOOD, NY — Inwood Hill Park's ballfields will be getting $7.5-million worth in upgrades in the coming years, and officials want residents' ideas about what the reconstruction should look like.

Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez announced during a forum Monday that his office will provide $7.5 million toward a reconstruction project for the ballfields in the historic Uptown park, which sits on a massive 196-acre plot of land on the neighborhood's waterfront.

The forum, which included a presentation from the Parks Department and remarks from Rodriguez, was the first opportunity for residents to submit their ideas for what should be included in the reconstruction.

Inwood Hill Park is home to 10 fields, but the renovations will focus on three baseball fields known as fields 1, 2 and 4. The fields sit in a section of the park bordered by Seaman Avenue.

(NYC Parks)

So far, parks officials have only shared general ideas about what they would like to accomplish with the reconstruction. They will then use the community's feedback to develop a design for the project.

The goal of the upgrade includes improving the fields' drainage, bringing new amenities and making them safer by adding new fencing.

Officials said their current ideas are to make the fields more accessible, add new dugouts, put in new water fountains and bottle fillers, add more trees for shade and put in new lighting, according to their presentation.

(NYC Parks) Current conditions at the baseball fields.

Rodriguez noted that the $7.5 million reconstruction will be in addition to any upgrades that the neighborhood park is promised under the Inwood Rezoning plan, which was recently sent back to the city by a judge.

The reconstruction project for the park's fields will take about three years to be completed, Rodriguez said.

The field upgrades are among at least three reconstruction projects the Parks Department is working on in Inwood Hill Park.

The park is also one of several city parks that is getting an reconstructed and re-stabilized retaining wall along its waterfront. That project is scheduled to be completed in September 2020, according to the Parks website.

The Inwood Hill Nature Center at the park will also soon undergo reconstruction due to damage it suffered during Hurricane Sandy. That project is still in the "procurement," or contracting phase, and will likely not be done for another year or more, according to the website.