The Playscape children’s play area at the Steppingstone Building in Steppingstone Park reopened Friday – nearly a decade after it was closed.
Great Neck Park District Superintendent Peter Renick said the project, whose $150,000 cost was funded under a $3.8 million bond approved by the Town of North Hempstead in 2004, had been tabled multiple times because the park district administration couldn’t find a manufacturer who was willing to do what the district wanted.
Renick said the project then moved to the back burner until calls from residents revived the idea a year ago.
“We eventually had some of the old residents who remembered the Playscape and wanted us to put it back,” he said. “We had to go back to the drawing board.”
The Playscape was originally designed as a “funzone” type play area in the 1970s, in the same vein as a McDonald’s Playplace. Children, he said, could climb ladders three stories high and play in an indoor sandbox.
But changes in child safety regulations resulted in the old Playscape being shut down.
“It got to where if you have a pen in the room, you needed a 12-foot safety area around that pen,” Renick said.
The park district has been using the Playscape space at 38 Steppingstone Lane for Camp Parkwood activities, such as arts and crafts and video games, he said.
Renick said the area housing the old Playscape was gutted under the construction work, with new rubber flooring and a ceiling added along with individual themed rooms.
One of the rooms is filled with Lego’s while another room has a play diner and a play supermarket, he said.
The park district, Renick said, is planning to have themed birthday parties at the Playscape for park district residents. Residents would have to pay a fee for the party, he said, but he isn’t sure how much yet.
Renick said most of the work on the new Playscape was done by park district employees to keep costs down.
The Playscape will be open from early September through about middle to late May, Renick said, and during the summer the space will still be used for Camp Parkwood.
The Great Neck Park District includes all Great Neck villages and unincorporated areas with the exception of Great Neck Estates, Harbor Hills, Lake Success, Saddle Rock and University Gardens.
