Baruch Playground

NYC PARKS ISSUES BARUCH BATHHOUSE RFP-- LOWER EAST SIDE

Parks looks to provide LES with sports and programming facility

NYC Parks today issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development, operation and maintenance of a community facility at Baruch Playground in Manhattan: Solicitation # M165-O-2020. Parks is looking to revitalize the Baruch Bathhouse, an abandoned structure, to provide Lower East Side residents and the greater New York City community with a sports and programming facility.

The existing structure was the city’s first public bathhouse, originally constructed in the 1900s to accommodate tenements where overcrowding threatened the health and welfare of residents. In 1940, Parks renovated the bathhouse and constructed a playground on the site. The bathhouse remained open until the 1970s, at which point it was shuttered. It has been vacant for 45 years.

NYC Parks is seeking a concessionaire to develop the facility and to operate it for a twenty (20) year term. All necessary capital work is to be performed by the successful proposer -- including full or partial demolition or creative adaptive reuse of the existing bathhouse structure -- with “green building” design elements and the use of environmentally friendly products for all repairs and capital improvements encouraged.

All proposals for this RFP must be submitted electronically no later than Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at 3 p.m. All interested parties considering responding to this RFP are encouraged to join the remote meeting on Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 2 p.m. To download the RFP, visit Parks’ website at www.nyc.gov/parks/businessopportunities.