Public Records Reveal Coverup

City’s own experts say landmarked rec center can be saved

By Phyllis Eckhaus

Condemning the city’s “coverup” and “lies,” activists rallied to save the shuttered Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, asserting the youth and adult sports hub at Clarkson Street and 7th Avenue South “can be fully repaired,” as the city’s own architect confirmed in newly-released public records.

These records seem directly to contradict the city’s repeated claims that the landmarked, 115-year-old Parks Department building ─ closed since 2019 ─ can’t be fixed and must be demolished.

The March 29 rally, sponsored by the Coalition to Save the Public Recreation Center Downtown (SPRCD ─ pronounced “Sparked”) and Village Preservation, the local historic preservation group, spotlighted records released via multiple Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests. SPRCD founder Sommer Omar declared that the “trove of files undermine almost everything we’ve been told,” observing “not a single file document … says the building has to be demolished.”

In fact, as the city stonewalled Community Board 2 and others seeking to reopen the facility, it apparently withheld from the public detailed plans for repairing and upgrading the rec center. These plans ─ now released via FOIL ─ were prepared by architectural and engineering firms under contract with the city and address every issue that supposedly made Dapolito “beyond repair.” This ranges from the condition of the sidewalk vaults to the need to make the building ADA-accessible to the desire for additional program space.

Previous research by Omar revealed that the city has already allocated $120 million for the Dapolito Recreation Center. Although the Adams administration planned to use the funds for demolition, they could also be used for repairs.

Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman condemned the city’s deliberate neglect of a city-owned landmark ─ a building “this neighborhood fought for years to get protected.” He noted, “Landmark designation is supposed to mean something. You don’t landmark a building and then hand it a death sentence….Demolition should never have been on the table.”

As a candidate, Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to preserve the recreation center; however, his administration is proceeding with plans to replace it with a tower at 388 Hudson Street that would include recreation facilities.