BY YANNIC RACK | Want to have a say in what a the West Side’s new green space will be called? The as-yet unnamed park that opened north of Hudson Yards last summer is ready for your suggestions.
The Hudson Yards/Hell’s Kitchen Alliance, the business improvement district (BID) that manages the green, announced last week that it is crowdsourcing a name for the neighborhood’s newest addition.
“We had been going back and forth on names, and it just seemed like a good way to make people aware of the park,” said Bob Benfatto, the director of the Alliance.
You have until Fri., Feb. 5 to submit up to three suggestions through an online survey, which has already garnered around 120 responses.
The park opened last Aug. and currently stretches mid-block from W. 33rd St. to W. 36th St., between 10th and 11th Aves.
Its southern tip contains the entrance to the new 34th Street/Hudson Yards 7-train subway station, and the park also sports fountains, sitting areas and a playground. This year, a kiosk will also open in its northernmost section.
Benfatto said that although it was commonly known as Hudson Park, the city’s Parks department didn’t like the name because it sounded too similar to Hudson River Park, which runs along the nearby waterfront.
“Parks never approved a name for it, and the legislation just calls it ‘mid-block park,’” he said.
The playground has already become a hit with local families, he added, and the fountain and sitting areas were teeming with workers during lunchtime this fall.
“There’s not a lot of park space in this area, so we have to take advantage of what we have,” said Benfatto, adding that the Alliance’s two events for Halloween and Christmas attracted around 200 local families.
The park still has the potential to expand — three more mid-block sections to the north are mapped as parkland, and once funding is secured, they could start sprouting up over the next few years.
“As the area develops, it will become easier to get it done. But we’re halfway there,” said Benfatto.
Christine Berthet, a local resident and Community Board 4 member who just ended her tenure as the board’s chair, has been using the park regularly since it opened.
“I personally love it. I think it’s a tremendous addition to the neighborhood — especially in the summer, when the fountains are gorgeous,” said Berthet, who is also on the Alliance’s board.
“We never had a park in this neighborhood, so it really makes a difference.”
Once submissions close, the Alliance’s naming committee will review the suggestions and make a recommendation to the full board of the BID, which will pick a winner sometime in late March.
“It’s going to be everyone’s park, so it’s really valuable that people express how they feel about it,” said Berthet of the crowdsourcing campaign.
“We were also hoping that some people would know about the past of this area, and project some of their knowledge into a name.”
To submit your ideas, visit hudsonyardshellskitchenalliance.org and click on the link for the survey.
