Gorman Playground In Jackson Heights Will Get $4.6M Renovation

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — The expansive Gorman Playground in Jackson Heights is getting a $4.6 million renovation, and residents will get to weigh in on the plan.

Parks officials will start gathering ideas for the revamped playground at a scoping hearing Oct. 3 at the Lexington School and Center for the Deaf in East Elmhurst.

Funding for the major project, first announced Wednesday, comes from the City Council's 2019-2020 budget and is the product of a collaboration between City Council Member Costa Constantinides and Speaker Corey Johnson.

"Gorman Playground, like so many parks in our district, is a lynchpin of the Jackson Heights community," Constantinides, who represents the portion of Jackson Heights where the playground is, said in a statement. "This will be a state-of-the-art playground that will serve Jackson Heights for generations."

Gorman Playground runs from 25th Avenue to 30th Avenue between 84th and 85th Street in Queens.

Its namesake, Denis P. Gorman, was a local civic leader who was responsible for the playground's construction, according to the parks department. He died in 1963.