Long-Awaited $3M Upgrade Wraps Up At Fort Tryon Park Playground

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Fort Tryon Park's Jacob K. Javits Playground filled with families for the first time in nearly two years on Saturday thanks to the end of a long-awaited construction project that brought $3.1 million worth of upgrades to the play area.

The reopening comes a year and eight months after parks officials first started the renovation project — which was originally scheduled to be done last summer — and about a decade since residents first started asking for upgrades to the playground, which sits above West 190th Street between Fort Washington Avenue and Cabrini Boulevard.

Local parents said the news of the reopening "spread like wildfire" in the neighborhood, which has had limited options of where to bring their kids while the construction dragged on.

"The entire neighborhood was there with their kids — it was a zoo," local mom Bonna Tek, who works at Patch, said about the Saturday reopening. "Everybody's thrilled to have it open again."

Tek said that the playground is in much better shape than before the construction project.

The renovation brought new fitness equipment, additional seating and accessibility upgrades to the playground, along with a reconstructed playground, basketball courts and drainage system.

"We are excited about the many features this play space now offers for all ages and abilities," a spokesperson with the Parks Department said.

(NYC Parks)

Funding for the park's renovation was allocated by City Councilman Ydanis Rodrigue ($2.1 million), Borough President Gale Brewer ($600,000) and the Fort Tryon Park Trust ($350,000).

The construction began in July 2018, but stalled late last year when a tree struck by lightning fell onto some of the equipment and the contractor was delayed.

The contractor fixed the safety issues caused by the fallen tree and replace all the equipment before the reopening, Fort Tryon Park Trust said Monday.

"Parks Forestry helped address tree hazards so Javits could be safe for public access," they wrote.

(Brendan Krisel/Patch).

The City Parks Department first revealed plans to revamp the Jacob K. Javits Playground in August of 2016 after it was identified in the department's Northern Manhattan master plan — created in 2010 — as lacking funding.

But even before the master plan was created in 2010, the community had been calling for an upgrade, Jeff Bauml of the Fort Tryon Park Trust said at the time.

The park trust and local officials are planning for a reopening celebration later in the spring, Fort Tryon Park Trust said. The trust will be raising money to maintain the upkeep of the playground.

"At long last, Fort Tryon Park's newly reconstructed Jacob K. Javits Playground is open and has many exciting amenities and amazing views to celebrate!," the trust wrote. "Based on community input, the designer was able to create a dynamic recreational area for all ages and abilities, with social seating, fitness equipment for tweens and adults, and a discovery play space."