$2M Renovations Complete At Jackson Square Park In West Village

WEST VILLAGE, NY — A small corner park in the West Village just got nearly $2 million in upgrades and renovations.

More than a decade after a local alliance group began spearheading efforts to revitalize the park, $1.9 million in renovations are complete at Jackson Square Park.

"This neighborhood park is a gem in the Greenwich Village Historic District and we are delighted that we were able to maintain the spirit of its original design while adding new features during this reconstruction — truly making one of the City's oldest parks new again," Commissioner Mitchell Silver said in a statement.

The park upgrades were funded with $800,000 from former Council Speaker Christine Quinn, $740,000 from Mayor Bill de Blasio and $360,000 from current Speaker Corey Johnson. Johnson kicked in the final funds for the long-awaited upgrades back in 2016, DNAInfo reported at the time.

The changes at the corner park date back more than a decade when the parks group Jackson Square Alliance formed — which worked to install an irrigation system, replace benches, and plant $100,000 of flowers, the Daily News reported at the time. The Alliance, at first led by the vice president of the developer who built One Jackson Square across the street, even made the corner park a WiFi hub, according to the News.

Though the developer and private funding connections have disgruntled some West Village watchdogs throughout the years, Jackson Square Park now features fully ADA-accessible space, permeable paving and LED lighting for improved sustainability and a mid-19th century replica fountain.

"It takes a 'West Village,'" Harlan Bratcher, the current Alliance president, said at Tuesday's ribbon cutting. "[T]oday's celebration reminds us all of the good that can come through collaboration with the goal to build a more inclusive and sustainable community."

The park, located at the corner of Eighth and Greenwich Aves. in the Greenwich Village Historic District, was first acquired by the Parks Department in 1826.

Per the Parks Department, the park was possibly named after the controversial former president Andrew Jackson, who was responsible for an 1830 act, which violently forced Native Americans from their lands.

But before the colonial era, the park was situated alongside Greenwich Avenue, which was once a Native American pathway, according to Parks. The avenue is the oldest known road in Greenwich Village, the department says.

"Jackson Square Park is one of the city's oldest parks," Speaker Johnson said Tuesday. "It thrills me to know it's being re-opened today."

"It's been a refuge in our city for two centuries and we need more refuges right now in the time we're living in," Johnson said.