Albert Capsouto Park (formerlyCaVaLa Park) is a triangular-shapedpocket park in theTribeca neighborhood ofLower Manhattan inNew York City. It is bounded byCanal Street to the northeast,Varick Street to the west, andLaight Street to the south. It is located just east of theHolland Tunnel exit plaza, formerly known asSt. John's Park.[1]
Ground was broken on the park in September 2008.[2] Opened in November 2009, the park cost approximately $3.4 million to build.[1] Formerly, the site was a parking lot.[1] FollowingSeptember 11, 2001, the lot was used as a staging area forsearch and rescue operations.[3] In the following weeks members of the public placed flowers, cards and letters at the site, as it was one of the closest points to the formerWorld Trade Center which was accessible.[3] The park features a 114-foot fountain designed by local artistElyn Zimmerman which refers to the canal which formerly ran along the path of Canal Street.[1][3] In 2007 the design concept was recognized for Excellence in Design by theNew York City Public Design Commission.[3]
The original name, CaVaLa, referred to the streets surrounding the park ("Canal-Varick-Laight"), and was described by one nearby resident as "kitschy".[1][2] A few months after it opened, a movement was started to rename the park after Tribecarestaurateur andcommunity activist Albert Capsouto[4][5] who had recently died.[6] Capsouto had been a member ofCB1 for twenty years before his death, and was frequently seen riding his bicycle around Tribeca.[6] The name was officially adopted in 2010.[3]
40°43′20″N74°00′22″W / 40.722088°N 74.006121°W /40.722088; -74.006121
