New Davis Center at the Harlem Meer Officially Unveiled Following $160 Million Transformation

Photo Courtesy of Central Park Conservancy

Elected Officials Join Project Leadership and Harlem Community to Cut Ribbon Ahead of Public Opening on April 26

$160 Million Reimagination Celebrates a Landmark Achievement in Park Equity and Renewal

New Facility Will Offer Year-Round Access for the First Time, Including the Seasonal ‘Harlem Oval’ and Expanded Free and Low-Cost Programming

Today, the Central Park Conservancy – the nonprofit organization and civic institution responsible for managing Central Park – officially cut the ribbon on the new Davis Center at the Harlem Meer, a transformative $160 million project that reimagines one of the most historically significant corners of Central Park.

The ceremony brought together elected officials, community stakeholders and project leadership to celebrate the completion of the most ambitious capital project in the Conservancy’s history. The Davis Center will open to the public on April 26, offering a new model for equitable, community-centered design and programming in one of the nation’s most iconic landmarks. The project stands as a testament to the Central Park Conservancy’s deep partnership with the City of New York, generous donors, and the local community. Of the $160 million total, the City of New York contributed $60 million, while the Conservancy raised $100 million in private support and led the project’s design and construction.

Conceived as part of a larger re-envisioning of the site by the Central Park Conservancy’s landscape architecture team that builds on the recent restoration of the Ravine to the south, the Davis Center was designed by Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture • Design and Mitchell Giurgola Architects in collaboration with the Conservancy. The new facility fuses landscape and architecture to create a year-round, community-focused facility seamlessly integrated into the Park landscape. Built into the site’s natural topography with a sweeping green roof and panoramic views of the Harlem Meer, the Davis Center features a light-filled gathering space and a seasonally transforming pool and rink in the context of restored natural landscapes, including a reconstituted stream course and wetland edge. Sustainably designed for LEED Gold certification, the project represents a once-in-a-generation investment in park restoration, ecological renewal, and community equity.

Major philanthropic gifts include $40 million from Kathryn and Andrew Davis, for whose family the facility is named; $25 million from Thomas L. Kempner, Jr. and Katheryn C. Patterson, recognized through the naming of the Kempner Boardwalk; a significant contribution from David S. Gottesman and Ruth L. Gottesman, for whom the Gottesman Pool is named; and from The Carson Family Charitable Trust.

The $160 million Davis Center at the Harlem Meer is the Central Park Conservancy’s most significant and complex undertaking to date – and the capstone to a decades-long effort to revitalize the northern end of the Park. Replacing the disrupted and outdated Lasker Rink and Pool, the new facility offers year-round community access through a swimming pool that transforms into an ice rink in winter and a new public green, the Harlem Oval, in spring and fall. Following seven and a half years of community engagement, fundraising, and construction, today’s ribbon cutting marks a major cultural moment for the city and reaffirms the Conservancy’s unparalleled leadership in stewarding the nation’s most visited urban park, with more than 40 million visitors annually, and investment in New York City. 

On Saturday, April 26, the new Davis Center at the Harlem Meer will officially open to the public with a day-long community celebration on the facility’s new Harlem Oval, beginning at 12:00pm. Harlem residents and all New Yorkers are invited to the free family-friendly celebration, which will feature activations from local community-based organizations, food and drink, live performances and hourly tours of the new venue.

The Davis Center will offer year-round, majority free and low-cost programming for all ages, operated by the Conservancy, NYC Parks, and other community non-profits. Programming is generously funded by lead donors JPMorganChase, Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Philip & Alicia Hammarskjold, and Paula and Jeffrey Gural.

Programming highlights include:

• Spring & Fall (Harlem Oval): Yoga and meditation with Multitasking Yogi, dance classes with Go Hard Dance!, art workshops with Harlem School of the Arts, birding tours with NYC Bird Alliance, lawn games on the green, and school field days.
• Winter (Ice Rink): Community ice time, skating and hockey lessons for all ages, league play, and dedicated programming for local partners like Figure Skating in Harlem, the Central Park North Stars, and the American Special Hockey Association.
• Summer (Gottesman Pool): Operated by NYC Parks, community swim, free Learn to Swim lessons, and other aquatic programs will be offered from late June through early September.
• Ongoing: Guided tours and discovery walks of the Park’s northern landscapes and pilot educational programming for local schools focused on Central Park’s ecology and history.

You can learn more about programmatic offerings and the initial calendar of events here. 

The Conservancy’s work in the Park’s north end has been ongoing since its founding in the 1980s, with the restorations of the Harlem Meer, one of the first major projects, occurring in 1989. The Conservancy has invested over $310 million into the Park north of 97th Street over the past four decades – approximately one third of the Conservancy’s total investments into Central Park. 

The Davis Center at the Harlem Meer was first announced in 2019 and construction began in 2021. From the earliest stages of this project, the Conservancy has taken a community-first approach from the start, building upon strong existing relationships with local leaders, community groups, and elected officials to ensure that the Davis Center reflects the community’s needs and contemporary uses. There has been extensive dialogue with the community at every step of the process.

About the Central Park Conservancy

The Central Park Conservancy is a private, not-for-profit organization that manages Central Park and is responsible for raising the Park’s annual operating budget. The Conservancy’s staff of 400 is responsible for all aspects of the Park’s stewardship, from day-to-day maintenance and operations to continued restoration and rebuilding projects. Additionally, the Conservancy operates the Park’s visitor centers, provides public programs, and serves as a resource for other NYC parks and for public-private partnerships around the world. For more information, please visit centralparknyc.org.