40°43′30″N 74°00′16″W / 40.7249°N 74.0045°W
Spring Street Park is a small triangular park in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Hudson Square in New York City. [1] The park is bounded by Spring Street on the north, Broome Street on the south, Avenue of the Americas ( Sixth Avenue) on the east, and on the west by a narrow two-block street considered to be a spur of Sixth Avenue. As a pedestrian plaza, the triangle was previously known as SoHo Square. [2]
SoHo Square was created when Sixth Avenue was extended south of Carmine Street, one of several similar squares to come into existence in that way. [3] In keeping with the renaming of the avenue as the "Avenue of the Americas" in 1945, it contains a larger-than-lifesize statue of General José Artigas, a Uruguayan independence leader and national hero. The statue is a second cast from a statue by Uruguayan sculptor José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín, the first of which stands in front of the Uruguayan National Bank in Montevideo, where it has been since 1949. [3] [4]
The land is owned by the New York City Department of Transportation and is maintained by the Hudson Square Business Improvement District ( BID) and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Starting in April 2017, the park was redeveloped by the Hudson Square BID. The redesign and renovation was funded by $3 million from the BID, $2 million from the New York City Economic Development Corporation and $1 million from the New York City Council. The redevelopment provided 160 places to sit, including "swivel seats", customized energy-efficient lighting, and a total of 42 trees plus other plantings. In addition, the statue of General Artigas was moved to a more central location within the park. The aim of the redesign was to create "a world-class green space that residents, employees and visitors will enjoy for generations," according to City Council member Corey Johnson. [5] The redesign of the plaza into a park is the centerpieces of the BID's streetscape improvement plan for the Hudson Square neighborhood. [6] [7] The park was partially reopened in August 2018 [8] and fully reopened two months later. [9]
The Dahesh Museum of Art, the Chelsea Career & Technical Education High School, the NYC iSchool, and the HERE Arts Center are all located around the park.