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By William Diep and Zoya Khan

District 7 New York City Council member Shaun Abreu, CC ’14, along with council speaker Adrienne Adams and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation commissioner Sue Donoghue, announced on Tuesday a $7.4 million grant to revitalize the Ten Mile River Playground in Riverside Park.

The funding, Abreu said, will finance the park’s facilities’ only renovation in nearly a century, allowing families to visit and enjoy the park year-round for the first time since the 1930s. Renovations will focus on the field house—a 1,600-square-foot, all-season indoor activity space across from basketball courts—and a playground. Although the space is central to surrounding neighborhoods, 90 years of water damage have left its bathrooms in poor condition, and the space is unused during the winter because it lacks heating.

Proposed improvements include refurbishing its public restrooms, storage space, and office spaces for park staff. Abreu added that the new facilities will be heated during the winter months, and the new field house will have disability access, with water-efficient toilets, energy-saving lights, and hand dryers.

“We are making sure the new infrastructure is people and climate-friendly,” Abreu said at the event. “If you look around, you can understand why families from all over my district from West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, and Washington Heights, where I grew up, come to this park for recreation and relaxation. It is one of the few green spaces they have access to.”