Central Park's Lasker Rink To Get $150 Million Renovation

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Central Park's outdoor swimming pool and ice rink complex is getting a major renovation, city and park officials announced Wednesday.

The city and the Central Park Conservancy — the organization responsible for running Central Park and its upkeep — are teaming up to fund a $150 million renovation of the Lasker Pool and Rink complex and its surrounding parkland, officials said.

The renovation, which is set to begin in Fall 2020, will upgrade the ice rink and pool facilities and will make the nearby Harlem Meer more accessible for parkgoers. The plan will bring the area in line with the original vision of the park, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The city is committing $50 million to the renovation and the Conservancy is committing the remaining $100 million.

"We’re putting $50 million toward the re-envisioning of Lasker Pool, because parkgoers and Harlem residents deserve world-class amenities and a park landscape that flows the way Olmsted intended it to,” de Blasio said in a statement.

The Lasker Pool and Rink, built in 1966, currently acts as a man-made barrier between the Harlem Meer and the North Woods, officials said. The renovation project will reconnect the two park areas and provide easier access to the areas from both the north and south directions.

The renovation project will be a "crowning effort" of the Central Park Coservancy's 30-year plan to revitalize the north end of Central Park, officials said Wednesday. The plan, which was launched in the 80s, has resulted in the restoration of areas such as the Harlem Meer, the North Meadow Ballfields, playgrounds on East 108th, East 110th, West 110th and West 100th streets, and most recently the Ravine woodland and the Loch watercourse in the North Woods.

"This momentous project will be the culmination of the Conservancy’s decades-long restoration of the north end of the Park," Elizabeth Smith, president and CEO of the Central Park Conservancy, said in a statement. "By reimaging the site, we will incorporate recreational opportunities into the landscape and reconnect the Harlem Meer to the recently-restored Ravine woodland, fostering the flow of people — and water — across the park. We look forward to an engaged dialogue with local community members as we begin the design process."

The renovation is expected to break ground in 2020 following a design process and community visioning sessions, officials said. A completion date for the project has not been set.

Photo courtesy Central Park Conservancy