Columbia Medical’s Washington Heights campus will get a new public plaza
Rendering Credit: FXCollaborative and Quennell Rothschild & Partners.
On May 28, work is scheduled to begin on Haven Plaza, a pedestrian plaza that will transform Haven Avenue between 169th Street and Fort Washington Avenue into an actual haven for faculty, staff, patients, students and the public at large. Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation, is creating 60,000 square feet of open green space complete with planters, benches, café tables, and chairs.
For the near term, a one-block section of Haven Avenue will be closed to traffic so the landscape enhancements can be installed. Traffic on Haven Avenue will be rerouted eastward on 169th Street toward Fort Washington Avenue. A driveway on the west side of the plaza will enable patients to access the Allan Rosenfield Building and the Neurological Institute by car or ambulette.
Once complete–a ribbon-cutting ceremony is slated for September–the plaza will host arts, cultural, health and wellness, and children’s events The project received approval from Community Board 12 last June by a vote of 27 to 16. Donna Lynne, senior vice president, and chief operating officer for CUIMC and CEO of ColumbiaDoctors, said, “Haven Plaza will offer a quiet, car-free place to relax, eat lunch, and enjoy the fresh air.”
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