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Davis Center
40°47′47″N 73°57′17″W / 40.796464°N 73.954626°W
The Davis Center (formally the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer) is a seasonal ice skating rink and swimming pool at the southwest corner of the Harlem Meer in the northern part of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 2025, it was built on the site of Lasker Rink (formally known as the Loula D. Lasker Memorial Swimming Pool and Skating Rink). The original rink, designed by the architects Fordyce & Hamby Associates, operated from 1966 to 2021 and was demolished after its final operating season.
The Davis Center and Lasker Rink site is located in the northernmost section of Central Park, north of 106th Street. In 1962, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced plans to build a swimming pool and ice skating rink in this area to cost $1.8 million. The rink would be built above the mouth of the Loch, at the southwestern corner of Harlem Meer. The facility was named for Loula Davis Lasker (1886–1961), a philanthropist and social worker, and the daughter of German immigrant Morris Davis Lasker and sister of Albert Lasker, who donated $600,000 to help build the facility. The work shrunk the Meer from 10.6 acres (4.3 ha) to 8.1 acres (3.3 ha), and the Meer was temporarily drained to facilitate construction of the project. The rink was supposed to be completed in mid-1966, but flood damage caused by poor drainage prevented the pool from opening as scheduled. Lasker Rink opened on December 22, 1966.
Lasker Rink was known to New Yorkers as being less crowded and less expensive than Wollman Rink, Central Park's other ice skating rink at the southern end of the park. Over the years, Lasker and other facilities in northern Central Park, which was surrounded by poorer neighborhoods, were generally not as well maintained as facilities in southern Central Park, which was surrounded by wealthier neighborhoods and had more tourists. Several events such as a 1969 ice-skating competition were intended to draw public attention to the facility. By the late 20th century, the rink was rundown; Yusef Salaam, who later became a New York City Council member, said that he wore sneakers around the pool because it was so common to find broken glass there. Justin Davidson, the architecture critic for Curbed, described Lasker Rink as resembling "the back of a suburban supermarket".
In 1986, real estate developer Donald Trump made an offer to New York City mayor Ed Koch to rebuild at no cost the deteriorating Wollman Rink in return for a franchise to operate the rink and an adjacent restaurant to recoup his costs. As part of the agreement to keep operating Wollman Rink, Trump agreed to also take a concession for Lasker Rink, and the Trump Organization won concessions for the rinks in 1987. The Trump Organization held the concession until 1995, when M&T Pretzel Inc. outbid Trump for a six-year contract to operate Wollman and Lasker skating rinks.
A Trump-owned subsidiary, Wollman Rink Operations LLC, won another concession in 2001 to operate the rinks until April 30, 2021. Wollman Rink Operations LLC is owned by DJT Holdings LLC which was owned by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust for the duration of Trump's first presidency. In 2019, the Trump Organization removed the Trump name from most signs and logos at both Wollman and Lasker Rinks without giving a reason.
On January 13, 2021, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would be severing all contracts with the Trump Organization, saying Trump had been involved in the previous week's storming of the United States Capitol. The cancellation of the Trump Organization's contracts to operate Wollman Rink, Lasker Rink, and the Central Park Carousel was supposed to go into effect on February 26. The city later allowed the rinks to stay open until the scheduled end of the skating season. The Trump concession expired on April 30, 2021. Because of the rink's planned renovation (see § Replacement), NYC Parks did not select a new concessionaire at that time.
Plans for replacing Lasker Rink date to 2015. In November 2015, a few weeks after the start of the 2015–2016 skating season, faulty drainage forced an emergency closure of the rink; at the time, the rink was planned to remain closed for the rest of the season. After repairs to the rink progressed at a faster rate than originally expected, it reopened two weeks after the initial closure. A $150 million project to replace Lasker Rink with a new facility was officially announced in 2018. Initial plans called for the project to be completed by 2023. At the time, the rink was prone to flooding, and it stood empty for several months a year, when it could not be used as either a pool or a rink due to cool weather. In addition, the rink's paint had begun to peel.
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Davis Center
40°47′47″N 73°57′17″W / 40.796464°N 73.954626°W
The Davis Center (formally the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer) is a seasonal ice skating rink and swimming pool at the southwest corner of the Harlem Meer in the northern part of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 2025, it was built on the site of Lasker Rink (formally known as the Loula D. Lasker Memorial Swimming Pool and Skating Rink). The original rink, designed by the architects Fordyce & Hamby Associates, operated from 1966 to 2021 and was demolished after its final operating season.
The Davis Center and Lasker Rink site is located in the northernmost section of Central Park, north of 106th Street. In 1962, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced plans to build a swimming pool and ice skating rink in this area to cost $1.8 million. The rink would be built above the mouth of the Loch, at the southwestern corner of Harlem Meer. The facility was named for Loula Davis Lasker (1886–1961), a philanthropist and social worker, and the daughter of German immigrant Morris Davis Lasker and sister of Albert Lasker, who donated $600,000 to help build the facility. The work shrunk the Meer from 10.6 acres (4.3 ha) to 8.1 acres (3.3 ha), and the Meer was temporarily drained to facilitate construction of the project. The rink was supposed to be completed in mid-1966, but flood damage caused by poor drainage prevented the pool from opening as scheduled. Lasker Rink opened on December 22, 1966.
Lasker Rink was known to New Yorkers as being less crowded and less expensive than Wollman Rink, Central Park's other ice skating rink at the southern end of the park. Over the years, Lasker and other facilities in northern Central Park, which was surrounded by poorer neighborhoods, were generally not as well maintained as facilities in southern Central Park, which was surrounded by wealthier neighborhoods and had more tourists. Several events such as a 1969 ice-skating competition were intended to draw public attention to the facility. By the late 20th century, the rink was rundown; Yusef Salaam, who later became a New York City Council member, said that he wore sneakers around the pool because it was so common to find broken glass there. Justin Davidson, the architecture critic for Curbed, described Lasker Rink as resembling "the back of a suburban supermarket".
In 1986, real estate developer Donald Trump made an offer to New York City mayor Ed Koch to rebuild at no cost the deteriorating Wollman Rink in return for a franchise to operate the rink and an adjacent restaurant to recoup his costs. As part of the agreement to keep operating Wollman Rink, Trump agreed to also take a concession for Lasker Rink, and the Trump Organization won concessions for the rinks in 1987. The Trump Organization held the concession until 1995, when M&T Pretzel Inc. outbid Trump for a six-year contract to operate Wollman and Lasker skating rinks.
A Trump-owned subsidiary, Wollman Rink Operations LLC, won another concession in 2001 to operate the rinks until April 30, 2021. Wollman Rink Operations LLC is owned by DJT Holdings LLC which was owned by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust for the duration of Trump's first presidency. In 2019, the Trump Organization removed the Trump name from most signs and logos at both Wollman and Lasker Rinks without giving a reason.
On January 13, 2021, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would be severing all contracts with the Trump Organization, saying Trump had been involved in the previous week's storming of the United States Capitol. The cancellation of the Trump Organization's contracts to operate Wollman Rink, Lasker Rink, and the Central Park Carousel was supposed to go into effect on February 26. The city later allowed the rinks to stay open until the scheduled end of the skating season. The Trump concession expired on April 30, 2021. Because of the rink's planned renovation (see § Replacement), NYC Parks did not select a new concessionaire at that time.
Plans for replacing Lasker Rink date to 2015. In November 2015, a few weeks after the start of the 2015–2016 skating season, faulty drainage forced an emergency closure of the rink; at the time, the rink was planned to remain closed for the rest of the season. After repairs to the rink progressed at a faster rate than originally expected, it reopened two weeks after the initial closure. A $150 million project to replace Lasker Rink with a new facility was officially announced in 2018. Initial plans called for the project to be completed by 2023. At the time, the rink was prone to flooding, and it stood empty for several months a year, when it could not be used as either a pool or a rink due to cool weather. In addition, the rink's paint had begun to peel.