Four Yonkers neighborhood parks are getting a full makeover, with new playgrounds, basketball courts and fitness areas on the way at Georgia Avenue, Grant, Trenchard and Pelton parks. Construction is already underway at three of the four sites, and the city anticipates all of them will be open to the public by late spring 2027, weather and construction permitting.
Mayor Mike Spano and the Yonkers Parks, Recreation & Conservation Department announced the renovations, according to Yonkers Times. Crews are currently working at Georgia Avenue, Grant and Trenchard parks, while construction at Pelton Park is scheduled to begin this month. City officials say some of the projects could wrap up before the end of the year, while the city anticipates all four parks will be open by late spring 2027, weather and construction permitting.
“Every neighborhood in Yonkers deserves a park where families want to spend time and children have room to play,” Spano said, adding that the improvements have been a priority of his administration and that work is continuing across the city, per the same report. Yonkers Parks Commissioner Steve Sansone said the parks should let children of all abilities play together and let families spend time close to home, and that the parks have served neighborhoods for generations, with the improvements meant to help them serve families for years to come.
What Each Park Is Getting
Georgia Avenue Park will receive a new playground, a basketball court, a fitness area, safety surfacing, site work, new site furniture and improved landscaping. Grant Park is slated for a new playground and basketball courts, along with safety surfacing, site work, additional trees, new furniture and landscaping. Trenchard Park will get a new playground, a basketball court, safety surfacing, site work, furniture and landscaping work, while Pelton Park is set for a new playground, a fitness area, safety surfacing, site work, furnishings and landscaping, the outlet notes.
Taken together, the four projects include new playgrounds, safety surfacing, site furnishings and landscaping at every location, with new basketball courts planned specifically for Georgia Avenue, Grant and Trenchard parks and new fitness areas heading to Georgia Avenue and Pelton. City officials describe the upgrades as efforts to make the parks more accessible and inclusive for neighborhood families.
Part of a Broader Push to Modernize City Parks
The four parks are the latest addition to a larger citywide effort: Yonkers has improved 32 of its 53 parks with playgrounds since 2021, according to the same Yonkers Times report. That tally sits alongside other recent projects around the city, including the renovation of Pitkin Park, which News 12 Westchester described as the first of three planned park upgrades scheduled for that August, with work there including new playground facilities, improved drainage and other site enhancements.
Other recent Yonkers projects give a sense of what these kinds of renovations can involve. At Kinsley Park, upgrades that included a new playground, safety surfacing, basketball courts and hoops, sidewalks, drainage work, landscaping and site furniture carried a project value of $1.3 million, as Westfair Online reported. The first phase of work at the 25-acre Trevor Park, which added new basketball and tennis courts, benches, walkways and replacement playground surfacing, carried an estimated cost of $1.1 million, while a further $415,000 was spent on additional Pitkin Park improvements including new playground features, rubber matting, site work and better drainage, according to a separate Westfair Online report on those renovations.
Those same reports describe Yonkers as operating 82 parks through its Department of Parks, Recreation & Conservation, though another account from Westfair Online references modernizing and upgrading 84 city parks — a discrepancy the available reporting does not resolve. No budget figures or contractor details for the Georgia Avenue, Grant, Trenchard and Pelton projects have been made public in the coverage so far.
For now, residents near the four parks are watching construction proceed with a tentative timeline in hand: some work finished by the end of this year, and the full reopening targeted for late spring 2027.
