All Over Albany

Checking on the progress of the Albany skate park

From this past Friday.

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.

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Albany skate park construction pushed to 2017

A rendering of the planned design.

The Albany skate park project in Washington Park -- originally planned to be completed this month -- has been pushed back to next year.

"The City is working diligently to bring this project to fruition by next summer," said Brian Shea -- the chief of staff for Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan -- on Tuesday. "We have established a bidding and construction schedule with an anticipated completion date that coincides with National Go Skate Day in June of 2017."

A tip of the hat to J'mo and grandmastergus who flagged the delay in comments here at AOA.

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Here's the Albany skate park design

A closeup of the design for lower end of the park.

Updated

The city of Albany has posted the design for the skate park planned for Washington Park. We've clipped out the renderings for easy viewing -- they're in large format after the jump.

The park will be built at four rundown tennis courts on the park's southwestern side. These courts -- known as The Blue Banks -- are already a de facto skate spot. (It's been the site of Go Skate Day for the last few years.)

The design is by the action sports division of the design firm Stantec. Kanten Russell -- a project manager for Stantec, and a former pro skateboarder -- was at a public meeting last month at the Washiington Park Lakehouse to discuss plan. Much of what he said then matches what's in a city statement accompanying the design:

The Skate park in Washington Park project includes the construction of a new 20,000 square foot skate park on four underutilized tennis courts located in the southwest quadrant of Washington Park. The skate park will make use of the existing tennis court surface and take advantage of the terraced construction of the courts. The surface will be complemented with a diverse range of obstacles, features, and reflect input from community residents and Albany skaters collected during the design process. The work will generally concentrate on the three lower courts allowing for a potential future phase to develop the upper court, should funding become available.

The budget for the project is $200,000. About half that is coming from a state grant, another portion from the Washington Park Conservancy, and the rest from money the city has already set aside for these sorts of project.

The city will soon be the construction contract up for bid, and it's aiming for a completion sometime in November.

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Albany is finalizing a design for a skate park

A project manager from the design firm Stantec talking with people about the design after the meeting.

The long push for skate park in Albany is starting to see some progress. The design for a venue in Washington Park is scheduled to be in place by the end of this month, and construction could be in progress this fall.

Both the bits of news are from a public meeting Wednesday night at the park's lake house to gather input local skaters about the project design. Here are a few more details.

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Albany skate park design public meeting

Skaters at the blue banks this past spring.

There city of Albany has a meeting lined up June 15 to gather public input about the proposed skate park in Washington Park. It's at the Washington Park Lakehouse and starts at 6:30 pm.

Word that the city was thinking about building a skate park first popped up in the fall of 2014. And at a packed public meeting in November of that year, city officials mentioned there was an outline of a plan to build the park at four rundown tennis courts in Washington Park. Those courts -- known as "the blue banks" because they're blue and tiered -- already serve as a de facto skating spot. (It's not technically allowed there, but stop by almost any evening and you'll see plenty of people skateboarding there.)

In the time since, the city was awarded a $100k grant for the project via the state Dormitory Authority. And this past March the city issued a request for proposals seeking bids for engineering services related to the park project. The RFP mentions that the city has a $200k budget for the project, and the document includes a diagram that points to some potential features of the skate park. (The RFP is embedded after the jump if you're curious.)

Albany Go Skate Day: The annual Go Skate Day is set for Saturday, June 18 at the Washington Park blue banks.

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Update on the Albany skate park plan

From previous Go Skate Day in Washington Park.

This Saturday is Go Skate Day in Albany's Washington Park and it could be a big day for the future of the proposed Albany skate park.

"Tomorrow is an opportunity," city recreation department commissioner Jonathan Jones told us today. "Tomorrow's our shot to show the city, to show everyone, that a skate park is possible in Albany."

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Follow up: Albany skatepark planning

From the public meeting at Bleecker Stadium.

Quick follow up on the plan for the Albany skatepark, from a packed public meeting about it Thursday evening:

+ The current plan is to get a plan. As Albany city recreation commissioner Jonathan Jones told the crowd: "This is in the infancy stage."

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