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Spring Street Park

Coordinates: 40°43′30″N 74°00′16″W / 40.7249°N 74.0045°W / 40.7249; -74.0045
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40°43′30″N 74°00′16″W / 40.7249°N 74.0045°W / 40.7249; -74.0045

Spring Street Park, is a small triangular park in lower Manhattan in New York City. The park is bounded by Spring Street on the north, Broome Street on the south, Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) on the east, and a narrow two-block street also considered part of Sixth Avenue on the west. As a cement pedestrian plaza, the triangle was known as SoHo Square.[1] The neighborhood in which the park is located is Hudson Square, although it is also sometimes referred to as "West SoHo".[2]

SoHo Square was created when Sixth Avenue was extended south of Carmine Street, one of several similar squares to come into existence in that way.[3] In keeping with the renaming of the avenue as the "Avenue of the Americas" in 1945, Spring Street Park in the square contains a larger-than-lifesize statue of General José Artigas, a Uruguayan independence leader and national hero; this is a second cast from a statue by Uruguayan sculptor José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín, the first of which stands in front of the Uruguayan National Bank in Montevideo, where it has been since 1949.[3][4]

The land is owned by the New York City Department of Transportation, while the park, which has been undergoing a complete overhaul since April 2017, will, when completed, be maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the Hudson Square Connection business improvement district (BID). The redesign and renovation was funded by $3 million from the BID, $2 million from the New York City Economic Development Corporation and $1 million from the New York City Council, and will provide 160 places to sit, including "swivel seats", customized energy-efficient lighting, and 42 new trees plus other plantings for what was a treeless cement plaza. In addition, the statue of General Artigas will be moved to a more prominent placement. The aim of the redesign is to create "a world-class green space that residents, employees and visitors will enjoy for generations," according to a City Council member. The redesign of the plaza into a park is the centerpieces of the BID's streetscape improvement planfor the Hudson Square neighborhood.[5][6]

The Dahesh Museum of Art, the Chelsea Career & Technical Education High School, the NYC iSchool, and the Here performance venue are all located around the plaza.

References