Central Park will be enriched with a leisure attraction: in the north, a new outdoor swimming pool is to be built, as reported by the park administration. For this purpose, the already existing but dilapidated Lasker Pool, which serves as an ice rink in winter, will be completely rebuilt. Also in the new area you will be able to skate in the cold months in the future, they say.
The plans envisage a redesign of the entire north end of the famous Manhattan Park for which a total of $ 150 million (approximately € 135 million) will be available. The aim is to better integrate the new facility and the various existing bodies of water into nature.
The money for the project, which should be completed in 2024, comes partly from the city and partly from donations collected by the park administration. It is the most expensive single project in the history of the park administration founded in 1980.
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Central Park in New York: money for the greenThe north of Central Park usually gets less attention than the south also known from movies and TV series, to which many expensive residential areas join. In the southern part is also the Wollman Rink, the famous skating rink, which was filming in, among other things, "Love Story" and "Kevin - Alone in New York".
220,000 visitors a year
More than 40 million people visit Central Park every year - but only around 2.5 million people visit the north end. Nearly 220,000 visited so far each year the local outdoor pool, which, like all New York outdoor pools cost no admission, and the skating rink.
Central Park Conservancy
Drawing of the new outdoor pool
While the pool is operated by the park administration in the summer, the license to operate the skating rink is owned by the Trump Organization, according to the New York Times. Its owner is Donald Trump, who has handed over the management of the company to his son after being elected US President.
About 45 percent of the previous visitors came from the report to neighboring districts such as Harlem, only just over ten percent were New York tourists. While many people are likely to enjoy the planned swimming pool, there are also critics.
Robert DeCandido is a bird expert who offers and conducts nature tours in Central Park. He says the use of the northern part of the park has increased dramatically over the past 30 years. He fears that the new pool could attract so many people that it could affect the environment - and thus bird watching.