The Pardee Greenhouses will receive a lot more green, $316,000 worth, to prepare for the season this spring. The good news is that none of that green will come from city coffers.
City parks chief Robert D. Levine told the Board of Park Commissioners at its monthly meeting Wednesday night that the $316K is coming from a $2.1 million private bequest from a man named Loefstedt.
(He offered no further information on the bequest or its benefactor.)
The work will include repairs to Greenhouses B and C. Pardee is part of New Haven’s East Rock Park, although it is locatedjust over the Hamden town line. The work is scheduled to be completed by spring.
Nearly $62,000 was earmarked for removal of asbestos and lead paint, said Commissioner C. Michael Tucker, shown explaining the repairs as Vice-Chairman Cliff Busy listened. Tucker, who spearheaded the renovation effort, said at least three bids were submitted and Frank Copasso & Sons would do the work.
Commissioner Migdalia Castro, a Fair Haven alderwoman, said she knew of the Copasso firm’s work and was “thrilled” that they got the contract.
The contract also calls for sidewalk work to assure handicap access, new benches in Greenhouse B, as well as new glass, sidewalls and roof vents in the two greenhouses. The Pardee was the beneficiary of a $3.5 million renovation project in 2007. That was paid for with $800,000 in city money, with the rest coming from the state.
The commissioners passed another measure that called for no city funds: the installation of an irrigation system at the Holocaust Memorial at Whalley and West Park avenues.
The work will be done and paid for by the private group that maintains the memorial, the first Holocaust memorial built on public land in the nation.