Developer Swig Donates $1.3M to Playground

A New York City real estate developer has donated $1.3 million to complete the financing needed to build a park downtown.

Kent Swig, whose companies own about 4 million square feet of commercial and residential space in Lower Manhattan, donated the money in honor of his deceased twin brother, Robert Swig.

The architectural firm the Rockwell Group is designing Imagination Playground, which will cost $2 million to build. The park "certainly increases livability" in the neighborhood, Mr. Swig said. "It will add to the quality of life for everyone that lives in the financial district area."

"When Kent came to us wanting to donate to the community, we thought an introduction to David Rockwell and the Imagination Playground was a great fit," the chairwoman of Community Board 1, Julie Menin.

The park, at Burling Slip between Front and South streets, is a good location because the neighborhood is becoming increasingly family-oriented, Mr. Swig said

"More and more families are living in the financial district area, and that is reflected in the amount of schools that are being built here," he said.