City Council Member Paul Vallone (D) and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz joined with dozens of community members to announce a funding allocation of over $2 million to construct an enclosed, permanent sports space at the site of the temporary tennis bubble at the Bay Terrace Center of the Samuel Field Y.
Both Vallone and Katz put up $500,000 from their capital budgets with an additional $1,102,000 secured from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan).
“This project has been talked about for years and by working hand in hand with our Speaker and Borough President, we have made the dream of a permanent sports complex and community center a reality for Bayside and all of Northeast Queens,” said Vallone. “Samuel Field Y has been an incredible resource and this project will allow year round use of many of their programs and services for the entire community, especially our kids and seniors.”
The project will create an approximately 40,000 square foot, climate controlled, permanent indoor sports space. The envisioned space will house turfed fields for soccer, football, lacrosse and baseball practice, two to three basketball courts, a tennis court and a fitness and wellness space.
The project will particularly impact Samuel Field Y’s Pre-K for all participants, who will soon have an indoor recreation space during the cold winter months. It will also allow Samuel Field Y to provide year round recreation opportunities to the senior adult community, the special needs community and local youth sports organizations.
“The creation of a year-round indoor sports and recreation facility in Bayside is transformational for the Samuel Field Y. It will allow us to expand our service offerings to the community and enhance our existing services,” said Lawrence Gottlieb, Chairman of the Board of Samuel Field Y. “We have dreamed about this for a long time but it would not have been possible without the unbelievable support of Council Member Paul Vallone, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. We are forever grateful to them for their support and commitment.”
“The Council is proud to provide funding for Samuel Field Y in Bay Terrace, and I want to thank Council Member Vallone and Queens Borough President Katz for the funds they contributed to the project as well. This funding will create over 40,000 square feet of state of the art indoor recreational space that tens of thousands of New Yorkers will enjoy each year – rain or shine, sun or snow,” said Johnson. “I look forward to seeing the completion of Samuel Field Y’s sports complex and all the ways the local community will enjoy this space.”
“This will be a state-of-the-art recreational facility for the growing families of Northeast Queens,” said Katz.“Thanks to the partnership and collective partnership with Councilmember Vallone and Speaker Johnson, the long-requested complex will soon become a reality.”
For over 60 years, the Samuel Field Y has provided a comprehensive network of social services to stabilize, enhance and preserve the quality of life for the residents of Queens. The Y currently serves over 35,000 people annually through a full range of high quality, accessible and meaningful programs and services for all ages at more than 50 different sites throughout Queens.
It provides special emphasis on programs to meet the needs of the area’s most vulnerable community members, including individuals with disabilities, older adults and victims of family violence. The Samuel Field Y’s Bay Terrace Pool and Tennis Center is currently home to their Early Childhood Program that includes a Pre-K for All program, After School program for children with disabilities, summer camp, summer program for hearing impaired youth as well as a summer pool club that is open to the public.
