A 9,000-square-foot floating swimming pool will be making its debut in the East River this summer, but it won’t be open to public access until 2025.
The X-shaped pool – a first of it’s kind – will allow New Yorkers to have a “new space to swim in the waters” surrounding the city, a joint statement between Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday.
The “+Pool” will be tested this year to make sure its filtration system, which will use river water, works and meets health guidelines.
A spot north of Manhattan Bridge near the Lower East Side was approved in the East River in 2021, but it is unclear if it will still end up there.
New York State is putting up $12 million for the project, while the city – which recently made budget cuts – will be chipping in $4 million, according to Gothamist.
The pool is a part of a larger project to expand swimming access across the state, especially as extreme heat waves continue to rise.
“I’m proud to partner with Governor Hochul to bring the +Pool, a unique and innovative swimming pool, to New York City — expanding access to swimming for all New Yorkers,” Adams said at a press conference.
Hochul echoed similar statements, saying: “I’m proud to partner with Mayor Adams to advance a long-stalled, innovative floating pool concept: the +Pool.”
The governor added that drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 4 and “extreme heat is making the need for safe summer recreation more urgent than ever.”
+Pool was first introduced in 2013 through a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $270,000 with promises the donors’ names would be engraved in the tiles that make up pool and deck.
In 2018, Heineken backed the project and even released a mini-documentary featuring Neil Patrick Harris. Three years later, the city approved the project.