Downtown Leaders Push for Floating Pool to Be Sited in Waters Adjacent to Lower Manhattan
In the wake of the January 5 announcement by by Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams that the State and City will jointly fund a $16-million plan for a floating swimming pool to be located in New York waterways, Lower Manhattan leaders are reiterating their longstanding call to site the facility near the Brooklyn Bridge.
The proposal, written as “+Pool” and vocalized as “Plus Pool,” consists of a floating dock surrounding a cross-shaped structure with a safety net on its underside, the branches of which are a quartet of rectangular pools—one each potentially for children, for adults swimming laps, for sports, and for recreation. The versatile configuration allows each pool to be used independently, or combined to form an Olympic-length lap pool, or opened completely into a single, large natatorium. The structure will filter the flow of the river in which it is immersed, and will be tethered to the river bed so that it can rise with the waves and tides.
Albany plans to contribute $12 million to building the first +Pool, while City Hall will kick in an additional $4 million. The aim is to have the first iteration of +Pool open by this summer as a test, with a larger rollout ready for the 2025 swimming season. Preliminary locations under consideration include the Lower Manhattan sites of the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge, alongside the shore of Governors Island, and in the Hudson River between Pier 26 and Pier 40.
Both the Governor and the Mayor emphasized that they wanted the first +Pool to be located in communities with a demonstrated need. In this context, says Rosa Chang, the president and co-founder of Gotham Park (a nine-acre public space beneath the Brooklyn Bridge) says, “some of the highest-needs schools in the City are located right here.” Also near the Brooklyn Bridge are the Smith Houses, a New York City Housing Authority project. Ms. Chang says, “we want Gotham Park to be the land point that connects to +Pool.”
Locating +Pool near the Brooklyn Bridge would also create opportunities for synergy with a community center that Downtown leaders hope to build on the site of the now-demolished New Market Building at South Street Seaport. Proximity to either a community center or facilities planned for Gotham Park such as restrooms and changing facilities could relieve the builders of +Pool of the need and cost to create such supporting infrastructure for their project.