Prospect Park will get two new skating rinks by the end of 2010 under a soon-to-be-announced plan.
The new skating center would replace the existing Wollman Rink, which is in disrepair after nearly 45 years of pounding from hockey teams and families flopping all over the place.
The proposed $25-million facility, called Lakeside Center, would include two new rinks — one for hockey and a smaller one for recreational use — and would be built on the Wollman Rink’s parking lot.
The new rinks will be open-air, but the plan — which is being pushed by the politically connected Prospect Park Alliance — includes a two-story building that would house a café and classroom space, among other amenities.
After completion, the Wollman rink will be torn down to restore the original landscaping, which was once “one of the most beautiful vistas in the park,” according to Alliance President Tupper Thomas.
The extra landscaping will cost an additional $10 million.
Funding has been lined up, Thomas said, thanks to the generous support of local pols.
Thomas would not reveal the name of the architect — but did joke, “I can tell you it’s not Frank Gehry,” a reference to the designer of Atlantic Yards.
With very little digging, The Brooklyn Paper discovered that the architects are Manhattan-based Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, a husband-and-wife duo. This will be their first Brooklyn project.