Updated
According to the New York City Parks Department, park goers’ access to all of Washington Square Park — which has been SO nice over the past four months after the NorthWest Quadrant and Fountain Plaza were previously closed for one and a half years — will soon end.
Work on Phase II of the Washington Square Park redesign is scheduled to begin shortly and the fencing around the NorthEast, SouthEast and SouthWest Quadrants of the park will be going up THIS WEEK. (Today? Tomorrow? Friday? Not certain.) It will take several days to get these sections fenced off.
According to the Parks Department press department: The contract for phase II of the work was “awarded to Tucci Equipment Rental Corporation. Contract amount is $9.1 million. The work will incorporate the NE, SE, and SW quadrants of the park.”
You might recall that the entire budget for the park’s redesign was initially $16 million. Phase I costs skyrocketed from a projected $6 million to $13 million. Update: I stand corrected. Phase I alone was $16 million. We are now upon Phase II and there is also a Phase III (bathrooms and Park administrative offices) up ahead.
Read more (previous blog entry) about Phase II plans for Washington Square Park here.
As I reported back in July, Phase II will see dramatic changes to : the Garibaldi Plaza, the Dog Runs, the “Teen Plaza” / Performance Area, the Chess Area, the “Mounds” and more! A positive has been the Parks Department’s agreement to preserve four of the Park’s seating alcoves – one reconfigured on the Southeast side while the two on the East side and the one on the Northeast side of the Park will be preserved as ‘is’.
Sadly, the fencing has just started to go up today, workers are digging up pavement outside the fencing on the south side of the park. Last weekend I took my pictures and said goodbye to what the remains of what was once the greatest park in the world.
Also, can you blog about how it’s quite often impossible to sit in the fountain with the water on, which goes against the rulings in the lawsuits – which required the city to make sure that people will continue to be able to use the fountain as they always had?
Actually, Phase I ended up costing just a little over $16 Million — the amount originally budgeted for the entire reconstruction, which at this point comprises at least two more phases.
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/washingtonsquarepark/capital
Excellent news! Thanks for sharing. It will be great when fully finished. Any idea when the projected completion date is for Phase 2?
Hi Be, Interesting point. I will check on specifics of that. Thanks for the info about the fencing.
Matt, thanks for the clarification on the cost. Very key information.
Ray, you’re welcome. Good question on completion date. I’ll look into it.
Thanks for your comments!
best,
Cathryn.