Ferry Point Park

Parks Breaks Ground On Ferry Point Park

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe today joined Council Member James Vacca, District Manager of Community Board 10 Kenneth Kearns, students from P.S. 72 and members of local civic groups to dig into renovations to Ferry Point Park.

“It’s an exciting year for the Bronx with park improvements all across the borough from Soundview Park to Mount Hope and now at Ferry Point Park,” said Commissioner Benepe. “Ferry Point Park is one of many undeveloped areas the City has transformed into a park and the upgrades from this reconstruction will bring even more opportunities for play, with new basketball courts and ballfields, a new playground, gardens and a beautiful trail system.”

Thanks to $13 million from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the reconstruction of Ferry Point Park will take place in two phases. The first phase includes the reconstruction of the basketball courts and existing ball fields, which is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2009.

Parks will also break ground on Phase II with the creation of a formal park entryway leading to a central gathering area with playground, gardens and seating areas, providing access to the ballfields and basketball courts to the north and the naturalized trail system to the south. An additional $2 million has been allocated for the construction of a comfort station in the park.

With a dramatic view of the East River and Westchester Creek, Ferry Point Park is 413 acres, approximately half the size of Central Park. Though Ferry Point Park has grown in area by landfill, the original 171 acres first came under Parks’ jurisdiction in 1937. The City purchased this parcel from the Catholic House of Good Shepherd in proceedings for acquiring land for the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. The parcel was called Old Ferry and was located at the confluence of Westchester Creek and the Baxter Creek Inlet.

Since 2002, the City has invested more than $174 million for Bronx park improvements, including new waterfront parks, greenways, and recreational facilities. Currently, Parks is investing more than $400 million to develop nearly 130 different park projects in the Bronx, including the Yankee Redevelopment projects, and projects funded through the construction of the Croton Water Filtration Plant.

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