GREENWICH VILLAGE — Greenwich Village ballers are getting brand new rims, backboards, fencing and resurfaced courts at the popular West Fourth Street "Cage" — and all of it will be unveiled by the New York Knicks.
The city's Parks Department is in the process of upgrading the much-used West Fourth Street courts, where passersby regularly line up three rows deep outside the chain-link fence to watch some of the city's best amateur hoops.
The court has hosted local legends and NBA players such as Metta World Peace, Rod Strickland and Anthony Mason. Members of the Knicks are expected to attend a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 20.
The Parks Department is at work on several other green spaces and recreation areas around the Village.
Construction is underway on the craggy, jagged and cracked sidewalks around Washington Square Park, thanks to $1,861,000 in funding from the mayor. That project is expected to be done next summer.
Further west, the Jane Street Garden, a community endeavor dating back to the 1970s, is getting a prettier fence to replace its longtime chain-link barrier.
Several projects are still in the design phase, including Father Fagan Park at Sixth Avenue and Prince Street. The entire triangular area is being redesigned with new benches, lighting and plantings. The project is expected to cost between $1 million and $3 million and the design phase is expected to be completed by November.
After the design phase, the project goes into procurement, a process to take in bids and select a firm to do the project. Procurement takes nine months on average, and construction takes 12 to 18 months on average.
Also in the design phase — about 30 percent complete according to the Parks Department online capital projects tracker — are the Bleecker Playground at Hudson Street, Jackson Square at Horatio Street between Eighth Avenue and Greenwich Avenue, and Little Red Square on Sixth Avenue.
The plan is to reconstruct the pavement, fencing, plantings and general area at all three sites.
Those projects are sharing funding of less than $500,000 from the City Council with the Jane Street Garden and the Tramway Plaza on the Upper East Side.
The Seravalli Playground comfort station reconstruction on Hudson Street between Gansevoort Street and Horatio Street is also in the design phase, expected to be complete by March 2016. That project has between $1 and 3 million in funding from the City Council.
Upgrades to the DeSalvio Playground on Mulberry and Spring streets are in the procurement phase, currently under legal review by Parks staff and city lawyers. That project has between $1 million and $3 million in funding from the City Council and the Manhattan Borough President.
And Sandy-related boiler and HVAC repair is underway at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center on Carmine Street and Seventh Avenue. The HVAC repair is expected to be complete in March 2016, and shares $450,000 in funding from the mayor and City Council with two other HVAC projects at recreation and nature centers in upper Manhattan and a third in the Bronx.
The boiler work was expected to be completed in February 2015 and is almost done, according to the Parks Department online capital projects tracker. It shares $850,000 in funding from grants and the mayor with John Jay Pool on the Upper East Side, which is also undergoing Sandy-related boiler repair.
