Chelsea Waterside Park, where the playground is located, is being renewed and construction is currently underway. The new design includes a permanent picnic area, a new public restroom facility, an expanded and refreshed synthetic turf field, a small concession stand and an expanded dog run with separate areas for small and large dogs as well as dog fountains.
Constructing the new and improved amenities will require closures of the playground at times. Currently the Chelsea Waterside playground slide is closed for maintenance. The timing and extent of closures are being coordinated to minimize the closure durations. Please take note of our detour signs when posted and visit our alerts page for updated closures.
In Summer 2018, Hudson River Park opened a new and enlarged playground featuring a custom-designed, multi-colored, 64-foot wooden slide in the shape of a Pipefish, one of many fish species that lives within Park waters. The slide was designed and built by a Denmark-based playground design company, and is the first of their themed playground structures to be installed in the northeastern U.S. The playground also includes multiple water features.
The Chelsea Waterside Playground brings together much of what is special about Hudson River Park, including the adaptive reuse of relics from the past. Among these are limestone cattle head sculptures reclaimed from a former slaughterhouse, the New York Butchers’ Dressed Meat Company, after the Hells’s Kitchen building was demolished in 1991. Granite seating blocks and medallions from the former elevated West Side Highway have also been repurposed within the playground.