In the Village of Malverne, Whelan Field officially opened as Whelan Park on Sept. 4.
The grand opening marked the culmination of a nearly $7 million in renovations, along with years of planning and construction work. Whelan Park now includes new Little League baseball fields, a three-quarter mile jogging path, exercise stations, benches, lights, bleachers, dog parks, rest rooms, a picnic area and an accessible parking lot.
The name of the official project that made these upgrades possible was the “Pine Brook Storm Water Drainage Improvement Project at Whelan Park.” Funded by the former Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, now the New York State Office of Resilient Homes and Communities, the project centered on storm water drainage.
Beneath the new baseball fields at Whelan Park are water-retention basins that collect water that would normally run off into Pine Stream. This helps with storm water management and protects the local ecosystem, as the water is filtered before entering into the stream.
“We’re fortunate to have had a number of good partners on this project,” Malverne Mayor Tim Sullivan said. “And one of them that stands out is the village’s architectural firm H2M.”
H2M architects + engineers, a consulting firm, has worked with the village since 2022, when it was awarded the contract to provide drainage and architectural improvements to what was then Whelan Field. They firm worked with the village to create new infrastructure throughout the entire park.
“It was a great project,” Matthew Mohlin, H2M vice president, said. “It was really fun working on this one.”
At the Village of Malverne board of trustees meeting on Nov. 5, Mohlin presented a commemorative plaque, donated to the village by H2M, to honor the official grand opening of Whelan Park.
“I came to the dedication,” Mohlin said. “I really could not believe the amount of people that came out from the community and the positive feedback I received from the people that I met that day. It was really nice to see and I’m happy to have been a part of that.”
