Officials gathered in Albany today to launch the next phase of building a new Lincoln Park Pool: removing the current one.
Lincoln Park was established as Albany's first public playground in 1900. Its centerpiece swimming pool opened July 4th, 1931. The city took the first steps to re-imagine the pool in September 2018, followed by several public sessions and community meetings. On Monday, Mayor Kathy Sheehan and several officials braved a light winter rain as they wielded golden sledgehammers and pounded away at curbing surrounding the old pool. The concrete (and the journey to this point) proved to be tougher than it looked.
"We applied for a $10 million grant from the federal government, which is why we're standing here in the cold instead of doing this demolition six months ago. That grant required that we wait to do anything on this site until the grant applications were vetted and ultimately disposed of and awarded," Sheehan said. "Unfortunately, we did not receive that grant. But we're going to keep working to look at grant sources to do all that we can to ensure that we are tapping into the resources that are available to help pay for this incredible facility."
The Business for Good Foundation is donating $1 million to the pool project. Co-founder Ed Mitzen plans to ask others to chip in.
"Kids in downtown Albany deserve to have the same type of summer facility, playgrounds, rec areas that a lot of kids in the suburbs have," Mitzen said. "And this is going to become a world class destination once it's done. You see the plans are amazing. We're so proud to be a part of this. And I'm going to be, and continue to talk to, a lot of the local business leaders to try to get them to open up their checkbooks and join us to help bring this wonderful facility back to life."
The new facility will include a 10,000 sq. ft. pool with in-water spray features, an Olympic lap pool, a 6,000 sq. ft. splashpad, water slide, restrooms and shade pavilions, plus a 10,000 sq. ft. playground.
Sheehan is confident work will be completed on schedule.
"Demolition this winter construction to begin in the spring; grand opening July for 2025. That's what we're pushing for," Sheehan said. "I also want to talk about trees, because in this city, we love our trees. At this point, no more than 15 trees are slated for removal as part of the project, we are going to replace every single one of those trees. And if more trees need to be removed, more trees will be planted. "
"This is years and years in the making. It started with the Combined Sewer Overflow Project, a multi-million up at the top of Lincoln Park. And we're just gonna transform this and make these very critical investments in the South End," said Assemblymember Pat Fahy, a fellow Democrat from the 109th district.
At the end of the press conference, the city's contractor moved in to begin demolition, to prepare the site for a spring construction kickoff.
"Look, we're gonna build this pool. We're committed to it," said Sheehan.
