See Prospect Park’s New $74 Million Restoration

There’s a new 30,000-square-foot ice skating rink coming to Prospect Park as part of a major green restoration project.

Wollman Rink changed the face of the Prospect Park’s lake 60 years ago by destroying islands and altering or obliterating the lake’s shoreline. A $74 million Lakeside development in Prospect Park features the new rink while restoring the shore, reports Curbed NY, “recreating a cove, Music Island and the waterfront esplanade.”

The 26-acre Lakeside project features a 25,000-square-foot building by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects that is the first new structure to be built in Prospect Park since the park was landmarked in the late 1960s. The center replaces Wollman Rink, but it sits atop of an old parking lot, so no parkland was destroy. In fact, the project actually adds parkland because the roofs of the two buildings will be sloping green roofs that completely blend into the parkscape.

The esplanade will be open starting next week. Lakeside will open for skaters next November. Curbed NY has pictures of the project in progress, and the New York Times recently had a series of photos on Music Island.

Photo: Curbed