City: Tennis Stadium Too Badly Damaged For Landmark Status

In a disappointing decision for preservationists in the community, the New York City Landmark’s Preservation Commission rejected the

The stadium, , was deemed too damaged to qualify for landmark status.

“Members of our staff, and our chair, went to the site to take a look at it’s condition, and they found a lot of spalling on the arches of the stadium, there was crumbling concrete throughout the structure and significant water damage,” said LPC spokesperson Lisi de Bourbon. Because of the damage, she said, the staff of the Landmarks Preservation Commission could not recommend the stadium for landmarking.

 The damage to the stadium is no secret, and the estimated cost of repair — above $12 million by some accounts — is what has made the aging structure such a political football in the community.

Historians want to see the stadium, which has hosted world-famous athletes and musicians including Arthur Ashe and Frank Sinatra, preserved and protected.

The West Side Tennis Club, the current owners of the structure, have made it clear that the high price tag of restoring the stadium is not something they’re willing to bear.  Last year, the ownership of the club sent out a request for proposals to companies interested in turning the stadium into luxury housing, but the process was stalled when voting members of the club rejected a plan from local developer to do just that.

Local historians had hoped that a landmark designation would help convince the club’s ownership to try and restore the stadium rather than sell it to a developer.

Michael Perlman, founder of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council, was livid at the LPC’s decision.

“By not calendaring a public hearing for the historic Forest Hills Tennis Stadium on local to international levels, this proves the LPC's dereliction of public duty, and of the architectural and cultural provisions of the Landmarks Law,” Perlman said. “The Landmarks Law does not reference a site's condition as a means for rejecting a public hearing.”

Perlman said he will continue in his efforts to get the stadium recognized on the state and federal levels, in the hopes of encouraging the city’s landmarks board to reconsider their decision.