QUEENS — A run-down Forest Park playground will soon get nearly $1.5 million in upgrades, including new play equipment and a spray shower, said Parks Department officials.
The agency, which held a groundbreaking ceremony at Mary Whalen Playground in Woodhaven Tuesday morning, said the project will take about a year to complete.
The space, located at 79th Street and Park Lane South, will get new separate sections for preschoolers and pre-teens as well as a sprinkler area, which will be "designed to evoke the glacial history and landscape of Forest Park," officials said.
New modern play equipment will also be installed throughout the playground and additional trees will be planted to provide more shade, according to the Parks Department.
“By next summer, neighborhood kids will be able to enjoy a brand new spray shower, upgraded and challenging play equipment and a more inviting play space," said Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski in a statement.
An additional handicap entrance will be constructed at the playground, named after a local resident who served as the vice president of Community Board 9, and a chain link fence will be replaced with an ornamental steel panel fence, the agency said.
“It’s a great day for the Woodhaven community as we break ground on this long overdue renovation," said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who has allocated $1.1 million for the upgrade of the playground. As a teen, Crowley worked summers to care for Forest Park, including Mary Whalen Playground, she said.
"This project is a part of my ongoing capital commitment to improve Forest Park for many future generations to come, in addition to renovating the Bandshell and landmarking the carousel," Crowley added.
The upgrade is part of a nearly $7.7 million renovation scheduled for Forest Park. Mayor Bill de Blasio's office gave additional $339,000 for the project.
Other improvements across the 500-acre green space, which is surrounded by Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Forest Hills and Glendale, will include replacing the signs along the bikeway and renovating the park's greenhouses.
