All Over Albany

Checking on the progress of the Albany skate park

Construction on the new skate park in Albany's Washington Park is in progress. The city is aiming to have it finished by June 21 -- national Go Skateboarding Day -- according to Brian Shea, the chief of staff for mayor Kathy Sheehan.

The new venue will occupy space along the Madison Ave edge of the park that was formerly rundown tennis courts. This space -- "The Blue Banks" -- had already been serving as de facto skate park. And a portion of the area that's not currently being renovated is currently serving that purpose.

The skate park has been in the works since 2014, though the process picked up last June when the city brought in the action sports division of the design firm Stantec to head up a plan. The city then released a design that July with the goal of getting the park ready by late fall. The city pushed the project to this year to save on costs.

The city has hired WM. J Keller & Sons of Castleton to construct the park, according to Shea. Work started in early April.

The budget for the park is $200,000. Funding for the project is coming from a state grant worth as much as $100,000; $12,000 from the Washington Park Conservancy; and the rest from a pool of money the city has set aside for these sorts of projects.

Last summer represents of Stantec told the crowd at a public meeting that $200k wasn't going to cover some of the more complicated features that people might desire. So the design leaves open the possibility of a phase two for the project, which could include costly items such as a bowl, on the upper levels of the site.

There are photos at the top of the construction progress -- click or scroll all way up.

(Thanks, Randal!)