TOTTENVILLE — A $3.7 million project to build a pavilion in a Staten Island waterfront park is being offered to contractors by the city.
Work is expected to start this year on the long-delayed reconstruction of the Conference House Park feature.
The Parks Department invited bids for the work this week. The existing pavilion has been closed since 2011.
The project hit snags after communication problems between the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Transportation delayed its design stage by more than a year, the Parks Department said.
The Pavilion at Conference House Park was originally built in 1935 but fell into disrepair and was replaced by a new one in 2002, according to the agency.
That one was destroyed by storms and was closed to the public in 2011 after being deemed unsafe, the Staten Island Advance reported.
The roof canopy and deck were demolished because of safety concerns, according to the Parks Department.
A plan was later put in place to replace it again with a new 4,200-square-foot one on the existing piles with a more modern design to be used for weddings, concerts and other events.
The funding was secured in 2015 after allocations by Borough President James Oddo, then Councilman Vincent Ignizio and then Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Advance reported.
Design work was expected to be finished in 2015 with construction starting in 2016.
But the delayed design process wasn't finished until August last year.
The Parks Department expects construction to start later this year.
