Harlem's Montefiore Square Reopens After 2-Year Rebuild: See It

HARLEM, NY — It's not every day that Harlem gets a new park. But that is essentially what happened Monday, when the city officially reopened Montefiore Square in Hamilton Heights following a two-year renovation.

The triangular plaza on the east side of Broadway between 136th and 138th streets had been closed since 2019, as the city built a new 1,500-square-foot lawn, planted dozens of new trees, and expanded the park's footprint by pedestrianizing the stretch of Hamilton Place that runs along its east side.

The $15.5 million project was intended to make the space more welcoming — until 2019, it mostly served as a walkway between the nearby City College campus and the 1 train stop on Broadway, leaving little space for leisure or recreation, as the Columbia Spectator recently reported.

Originally slated to be completed by summer 2020, work finally wrapped up last week ahead of Monday's opening, a Parks Department spokesperson said.

"Montefiore Square has been transformed into a seamless and welcoming plaza that will serve as a vibrant gathering place for the surrounding community," Parks spokesperson Megan Moriarty told Patch.

Other changes include added pathways and benches, plus improvements to nearby water mains that began in 2016, diverting stormwater runoff and adding catch basins to reduce flooding.

Planning for the project began as far back as 2008, when the one-block stretch of Hamilton Place was named by the city as a possible location for a future pedestrian plaza.

Though the reopening will no doubt be welcome news to neighbors, some residents have grown worried about drug dealing and unlicensed vending outside the fenced-off park in recent months, the Spectator reported in March.

In all, the project nearly tripled the size of Montefiore Square, and its expansion will allow the plaza to host more festivals, performances and green markets, the city said shortly after breaking ground.