Lower East Side's Seward Park Is Getting $6.4 Million In Upgrades

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Seward Park will see $6.4 million in upgrades by this fall, the Parks Department announced Friday.

A $6.4 million, de Blasio-funded project to better integrate parks into neighborhoods with more greenery and accessibility upgrades broke ground at Seward Park on the Lower East Side Friday morning.

"When this project is completed, the community will have a transformed historical park that is more accessible, inviting and beautiful," Parks Commission Mitchell Silver said in a statement.

Seward Park, at Essex and Hester streets, will see improved spaces at the courtyard plaza, a garden, pathway and bathroom across from a library at the park, the promenade along Essex Street and all of the sidewalks. New pavement, curbs, steel fences, benches, picnic tables, game tables, drinking fountains, among other upgrades, according to Parks.

"For more than 100 years, Seward Park has been a green oasis for Lower East Side residents," Councilwoman Margaret Chin said in a statement. "The $6.4 million construction project we are breaking ground on today will mean even more New Yorkers can enjoy this park for generations to come."

The Parks Without Borders project is being implemented at eight parks citywide, according to the department.

Some 691 parks — or 30% of the city's parks — were nominated.

Seward Park was nominated for the upgrades with more than 600 votes about three years ago.