Long Delayed Roosevelt Island $12 Million Renovated Sportspark Recreational Facility Opens To Public Last Friday - Watch Video Of Grand Opening Ceremony And Take A Virtual Tour Of Swimming Pool, Basketball Court, Fitness Center, Game Room & Locker Rooms

The long delayed re-opening of the $12 million renovated Roosevelt Island Sportspark recreational facility took place last Friday May 19. 

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Shelton Haynes, Congressman Jerry Nadler, RIOC Board Member Howard Polivy and RIOC Sportspark Director Joseph Natale were among those who spoke at the Sportpark Grand Re-opening ribbon cutting ceremony to a crowd of residents and RIOC staff.

According to RIOC President Haynes:

... Sportspark is a deeply important part of the Roosevelt Island fabric. Since 1977 the facility has provided the community with a place to exercise, play, gather and have fun but over time it has deteriorated to the degree that it required a significant well-capitalized overhaul.

When we closed the aging complex for this improvement for this important renovation work we understood the hardships and polls in the community but we also knew that when the Sportspark finally reopened, the transformation would be incredible and well worth the wait. 

Now everyone can enjoy the state of the art facility with memberships affordably priced. 

Once you tour the facility, I'm certain you will instantly fall in love with the look and feel of our latest investment and learn about all the exciting things the Sportspark has to offer... 

Congressman Nadler:

... I'm thrilled to be here on Roosevelt Island on such a celebratory day. 

The re-opening Sportspark is an exciting opportunity for Roosevelt Islanders to partake in a variety of Fitness, Sports and Wellness activities in a newly renovated facility.

My staff and I have begun to meet with residents of this unique community and learned about the importance of spaces like Sportspark that make Roosevelt Island a special place to live. I'm glad that RIOC listened to community members and elected officials about the need to maintain affordable membership fees so that Sportspark can remain accessible for Roosevelt Island residents to enjoy all it has to offer.

Thank you and congratulations to oil on this great occasion. 

 RIOC Board Director Howard Polivy:

This is a wonderful day. We proud to open this renewed facility for Roosevelt Island.

Many of you have been here over the years you remember the deteriorating shape, you remember the locker rooms with 15 layers of paint, you remember areas that were simply not usable or not used. That's all changed. I think you'll be very excited when you see everything different inside, also everything the same inside

The  facilities basically where they were but upgraded improved made usable for all of you. The best reward we on the RIOC board would have would be full use of this facility. We  built it from a vision of renewing something which was falling apart, underutilized, needing heat, hot water, air conditioning to something now state-of-the-art for everyone's use.

Again the RIOC is proud to be able to open this facility we're proud of our small role in this process overseeing the various changes as they came and we're glad to be here on this bright sunny day to see it open.

Thank you to the community for your advocacy and for your interests and thank you later for your use... 

and Sportspark Director Joseph Natale:

Hello Roosevelt Island community

Before I touch upon the facility upgrades, I want to give a huge thank you for all the departments at RIOC who came together to make this project possible and I also want to give a special thank you to our Sports Park team right over here who are very very excited and enthusiastic to serve our communities health and wellness goals.

Prior to the extensive renovations, SportsPark was in desperate need of key repairs to existing amenities as well as the addition of new ones. Some of the highlighted features of the new Sportspark include updated locker rooms, a brand new regulation size hardwood basketball court which can also be utilized for indoor volleyball indoor soccer and handball.We also re-imagined an unused space and turned it into a state-of- the-art fitness center as well as added a recreation room where we have tabletop games such as ping pong, table tennis, pool and air hockey. 

Lastly, the mainstay of Sportspark is the pool. It needed much needed upgrades and what we've done there is add a new lighting, new HVAC, resurface the pool floor as well as added a brand new pool deck. I think you guys are going to really like what you see today.

We've also added programs such as weekly indoor soccer and volleyball. We've added family swim time, family basketball time and teen basketball time and starting in July we'll begin to enroll our residents and members into our swim programs as well.

We're extremely proud of the facility you're about to walk through and hope to see our residents enjoying the space for years to come. 

After this ribbon is cut, everyone is free to make their way over to the west side entrance where we'll begin our bulk touring groups....

Thank you very much. 

RIOC President Shelton Haynes then declared May 19 to be Roosevelt Island Sportspark Day. 

Watch the full Sportspark re-opening ceremony,

the ribbon cutting and then follow along on a tour of the renovated Roosevelt Island Sportspark recreational center with Sportspark Director Joseph Natale.

Here's the Sportspark membership pricing schedule 

and more info at the Sportspark website.