(Image: City of Seattle)
Until they transform the Volunteer Park reservoir for swimming — and they’re not going to do that, unfortunately — the Central District’s Medgar Evers Pool will remain a one of a kind asset. It returned to service after a much longer than anticipated absence for much needed repairs.
Shut down for what was expected to be an 18-week closure last December, the pool’s reopening was delayed due to the amount of deterioration work crews found in the facility and by a major water leak discovered at the end of the project, the city says.
The work included replacing pool deck slab and drains, installing a new plaster liner pool shell, new pool lights, and new overhead lights.
There is still more work ahead. A new bulkhead will be installed in April 2020.
The work was part of a slate of clean-up and construction at public pools across Seattle. The city says each pool was closed one at a time to complete needed renovations. Seattle Parks has now completed repairs at Queen Anne, Meadowbrook, Pop Monger and Southwest pools. Exterior work continues at Helene Madison Pool which remains open. The Ballard Pool, meanwhile, is currently under construction and is planned to be completed in April 2020.
To save money, Seattle Parks and Recreation awarded the contract for the projects to a single bidder. Funding for this park project is provided by the Seattle Park District.
Named for the Black civil rights leader, the Medgar Evers facility features a 25-yard, 6-lane pool. Its shower and restroom facilities are also available for Seattle Public School students and residents in need, according to the city.
The Medgar Evers Pool is located on 23rd Ave, next to Garfield Community Center. You can learn more at seattle.gov.
$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🐑🌞🌻
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 👍
One of the most ugly buildings I’ve ever seen. Thankfully most it is below ground…
As 60’s-era buildings go, I think it’s quite charming, and its integration into the broader complex’s pedestrian circulation patterns reflects good design that works so well you tend not to notice how good it is. And the pool inside is a neighborhood gem.
“Shut down for what was expected to be an 18-week closure last December, the pool’s reopening was delayed due to the amount of deterioration work crews found in the facility”
Anyone who used the facility could have told you there was definitely more than 18 weeks of work in there. Hopefully the rust colored water leaking through the walls in the locker room has been repaired!
I dunno, I came to find that kind of endearing….