Bennett Park Playground to Reopen With Water Sprinkler Features

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Kids are getting ready to swing, slide and squeal in Bennett Park playground this spring as the Parks Department plans to wrap up its renovation work next week. 

After nearly six months of construction, the installation of spray shower sprinklers for children should be complete by the end of the month, the department said. 

Resident Jessica Shapely, a parenting advocate and mother, said families in the neighborhood have been looking forward to the reopening for some time and look forward to having a new place to cool off come summertime. 

“Having a water element at Bennett will be great during the summer,” she said. “Positive changes to community spaces in any neighborhood are a great thing for the neighborhood and the families that live in it.”

The renovation is part of the $1.6 million renovation of the 1.8-acre park, on Fort Washington Avenue between 183rd and 185th streets, seeks to update amenities in the park while also improving access to the park's natural and historical features. 

The park sits at the highest point in Manhattan and the footprint of Fort Washington, the site of a Revolutionary War battle. 

The capital improvement project was financed through the offices of City Councilman Robert Jackson and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

The playground project was initially scheduled to wrap up at the beginning of the month, but was delayed due to electrical issues, according to a notice posted by the department. 

After the first phase of construction is completed, the department plans to begin its second phase of improvements, which have not yet been funded. 

At that time, Parks plans to add new accessible park house and restroom building, an expanded and upgraded playground and a new children's garden area. 

For now parents in the area are just happy to hear the playground will be reopening, bringing playtime back to this stretch of Fort Washington Avenue. 

“It's a much-loved part of our community,” said Kelly Evans, a neighborhood mother and member of the Bennett Park Community Alliance. “We've missed it incredibly.”