Community Corner
First Dedications at Prospect Park Skating Rink, Though No Ice Skating This Year
Music Island and a new esplanade will be dedicated on Friday, though officials say the rink won't open until next fall.
The first phases of Prospect Park’s Lakeside project – which will soon include a brand new ice skating rink – will be dedicated on Friday, though there won't be any skating until next year, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
The two phases include a new “Music Island” to replace the one destroyed in 1960 for the construction of the former Wollman Skating Rink, as well as the new Shelby White and Leon Levy Esplanade.
Music Island is being named in honor of Chaim Baier, Ms. White’s father, according to the paper.
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The first phase was funded by a $10 million grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, a non-profit foundation created from the estate of Leon Levy.
According to the Brooklyn Paper, skaters who hoped to be able to use the new rinks this year will just have to wait until next winter.
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Officials planned to temporarily open the brand new $74-million ice rink for January through March use, before the full opening in fall 2013.
Prospect Park Alliance spokesman Paul Nelson told Patch that the decision to hold out for a full opening would save $450,000 in construction costs, for a temporary rink that would have only been open for three months.
Nelson also added that the temporary opening could have interfered with and delayed the full opening in fall 2013. Also, visitors to the temporary rink would have had to navigate a construction site.
In Williamsburg, a plan to turn the new McCarren Park Pool into an ice rink during the winter months also fell through this year, according to the Open Space Alliance of North Brooklyn. The group hopes to debut the rink next winter, as well.
