LES Skate Park Gets Makeover

Soon, Coleman Oval Skate Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side will get a major redesign that will include a stage, a playground, and a dog-run.

The redesign comes after the park received a grant from Nike’s Gamechanger foundation for $500,000. Even with all the new additions, the main attraction, as it has always been, will be the skating.

Coleman Skate Park isn’t much to look at right now. In the middle of weekday afternoon, only a few skaters are out, and most of them are from out of town. There aren’t many ramps and the whole thing lies on a flat concrete slab, under Manhattan Bridge. But according to skateboarding experts in New York, Coleman is one of the most popular skate parks in Manhattan.

Steve Rodriguez, founder of 5Boro skate shop, says right now the city’s skate parks don’t offer enough variety and Coleman’s location offers skaters from all five boroughs an easily accessible park.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s the best location, but it was the worst skate park. So there’s great camaraderie there and a great scene going on there and a lot of skateboard culture going on, but it’s the dirtiest most run-down skate park in the city.”

Rodriguez nominated Coleman Park for the Nike grant, and once it received the $500,000 he was heavily involved in the design and took input from the community in order to ensure that all types of skaters would be satisfied.

Rick Sulz, founder of NYSkateboarding.com, says New York skaters, particularly those in Manhattan, tend to prefer street skating to park skating. But, the new Coleman Park will include elements of park and street skating.