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Read the press release here.

YouTube Backing Tompkins Square Park Basketball Court Renovations

By Lisha Arino | May 5, 2015 2:58pm
 Work is expected to begin later this month, the company announced Monday afternoon.
YouTube Backing Tompkins Square Park Basketball Court Renovations
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EAST VILLAGE — The basketball courts in Tompkins Square Park are getting a facelift later this month.

The Parks Department, with funding from YouTube, will resurface and repaint the faded, cracked concrete and install new basketball hoops in the courts near East 10th Street and Avenue B, they announced Monday afternoon.

Construction will start mid-May and the courts are expected to reopen by the end of June, just in time for summer vacation, said Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver and Adam Relis from YouTube Space New York at a press conference announcing the renovations.

The work is estimated to cost around $300,000, according to the Parks Department.

"This park has been through many reincarnations," said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who also attended the event. "I bet this one is the best."

The announcement came in the middle of a free event featuring YouTube stars Dude Perfect, who've amassed more than 5 million subscribers and 600 million views for their taped trick shots and comedy sketches.

Music blared in the background as young fans flocked to the basketball courts to meet Coby and Cory Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones and Tyler Toney, the five friends from Texas who make up Dude Perfect.

YouTube also transformed the area into six different stations inspired by Dude Perfect's trick shot videos.

One area challenged kids to sink a shot by bouncing a basketball on a trampoline, while another required them to turn their backs to the net, using only a mirror to guide their throws.

Judy Reyes from Long Island took her kids out of school early so they could meet Dude Perfect, she said, explaining that her sons Dylan, 6, and Cole, 8, were "obsessed" with the YouTube channel.

"They’re really happy boys right now," she said.