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The DCR has announced the funding of a $250,000 feasibility study for the Lee Pool facitilty, which currently sits unused and dilapidated. The assessment may determine future use and redevelopment options for the 50-year-old pool, which has been closed for nearly a decade.
Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1892, the Charlesbank recreation area was the first free outdoor recreation facility in the United States. Today, it is the hub of athletics for children and families living in downtown Boston.
The Charlesbank recreation area features two tennis courts, three baseball diamonds, and a large open multi-use field for sports like soccer and lacrosse. Charlesbank is also the site of the defunct Lee Pool complex, closed now for more than a decade.
Community and educational organizations bring more than 2,000 young participants to Charlesbank every year for organized athletics. Schools in the Back Bay, West End, North End, and Beacon Hill all depend on this resource for their physical education programs. And thousands of visitors travel here from outside the area to attend games and charity walks.
The playing fields at the Charlesbank recreation area are the only fields available to organized soccer leagues for children ages 4-13 and the only lacrosse and touch-football fields in the downtown area. Youth baseball and softball for children under 10 would not exist without them.
Few cities and towns in the nation could sit by and watch such a vital community resource fall into crippling disrepair without taking action. Boston is no exception. The Esplanade Association is spearheading an extensive restoration of this crucial but long neglected community resource.
Our Charlesbank Renewal Project Committee is building a powerful public-private partnership of supporters—individuals, agencies, organizations, and corporations. Once we receive financial backing, we will launch the development and conceptual design phase of a restoration project that promises to be one of the largest renewal efforts in the history of the century-old Esplanade.
The Charlesbank recreation area is located between two MBTA stops --Charles/MGH on the Red Line and Science Park on the Green Line. Accessible to those who live and work in downtown Boston and Cambridge, the park is also a focal point of the riverside landscape enjoyed by an estimated 115,000 drivers who pass by it every day.
To launch these vital initiatives, we must raise individual and corporate support beginning with a $300,000 planning phase.
Photo Header courtesy of Red Sox Foundation (1) Trinidad Rodriguez