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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.
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