A Permanent Pool For Brooklyn Bridge Park

By on June 1, 2018 8:54 am in brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Fun

Posted by Brooklyn Bridge Park on Twitter this morning:

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT: A permanent pool is coming to BBP! The location of the pool will be Squibb Park, which sits above Pier 1 and is connected to BBP by Squibb Park Bridge. We are thrilled to add such a desired amenity by park visitors and the community to our world-class park!

More details as they become available.

First thought:  Yay!

Second thought: How psyched are the people in those buildings going to be to have a pool right outside?

Third thought: What does this mean for the bridge from Columbia Heights to the park?

Gothamist has details.

Share this Story:

, ,

  • gc

    I picture the pool, as an outdoor only pool, situated in the macadam area just before you get on the bridge from the Columbia Hts entrance.

  • StoptheChop

    What does this mean for traffic along Columbia Heights (both through traffic and cars looking for parking)?

  • Jorale-man

    Fourth thought: Will there be a swim-up bar?

  • Banet

    According to the press conference, the bridge isn’t going anywhere. How else would you access the pool from within the park after all?

    I think it will just mean that you’ll have to skirt the pool when going from the Heights to the bridge and vice versa.

  • Jorale-man

    One thing I noticed while walking through the park this morning: There are a couple of big oak trees that were probably planted when the park was built in the 1940s. I’d guess they’ll have to be removed for the pool, unless they make it a very narrow pool.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    I hope it will be a real pool, not the kiddy pool that’s there now. It would be nice to have a pool that adults can actually swim in.

  • gc

    I wonder if there is any thought to making it year round, and not just a summer pool?

  • Andrew Porter

    I made a long comment on Gothamist about this, correcting an image they claimed showed a basketball court, but was actually a 1930s children’s wading pool that used to be there, and they deleted it.

    Since Gothamist was taken over by WNYC, I’ve noticed a lot more censorship of the comments section, sometimes, as in my case, for no sensible reason.

  • Andrew Porter

    Don’t forget that the back of the redeveloped Squibb office buildings is literally next door to this. Coupled with traffic coming/going to this, and those NYers who refuse to go anywhere except in a car, I predict gridlock much of every summer.

  • Andrew Porter

    Here’s my photo from when PierHouse was under construction, showing the trees and skateboard area at the right:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1d8dcc92fdf06a95da857151a0841efc470620b0025b9153f62e42ff2d3e0111.jpg

  • Andrew Porter
  • Banet

    If you look closely it was a basketball hoop IN an empty wading pool.

  • Banet

    Indeed there is consideration to making it year-round by installing a seasonal bubble.

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, I’m no horticulturist but I bet the roots of those extend well under the proposed pool area.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    The roots of a tree extend out about the same radius as the branches, sometimes even further.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    It wasn’t really meant to be a wading pool, it was a sprinkler. A recessed rectangular area about the size of half a basketball court, with a short curb wall, about 18″ high, around the perimeter. It had a drain in the center and 4 sprinkler heads pointed inwards.
    As kids, we would indeed plug the drain with pieces of cardboard, plastic bags etc. to convert it into a wading pool. The park attendant would periodically make an appearance and yell at us to remove the blockage.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Yes, in its later years it was converted into a basketball court.

  • Andrew Porter

    I did the same thing in the one I played in, in the Bronx (but before plastic bags). Devious kid minds think alike!

    There was also another, for even smaller kids.

    There were two at the entrance to the High Street subway — the circular one that’s now a planter, and a rectangular one just to the south.