We have a mystery on our hands. A local recently saw workers cutting down the trees that give shade to a parking lot and playground in front of Central Park Towers and Park West Village between 97th and 100th Street off of Central Park West.

“[T]his is the very large parking area of CPW Towers, located on the superblock between 97th and 100th, off Central Park West — these images are looking east over the lot; in the background is Central Park, and the buildings in the distance are mostly Mt. Sinai Medical Center on the East Side. About a half-dozen trees were removed from the center of the lot some time last week — there aren’t even stumps left — just dirt — and I now realize that you wouldn’t even be able to see this from the street — it’s only visible from the (many) apartments that surround the lot on 97th, 100th and Columbus.”

Update: We’ve heard from 2 people (including a commenter below) that the building management chopped the trees down because of an infestation. One said the city told the building to do it: “the City directed that 382 CPW Condominium and 392 CPW Condominium take the infested trees down before the infestation spread to other trees on the property and then to other trees in the area.”

We’ve been calling and emailing around trying to figure out what’s going on, but haven’t had much luck. In the absence of answers, we’ll ask the readers: anyone have any idea why the trees were cut down?

You can see the results below in before and after pictures.