The Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool, the location of the 1968 and 1976 Olympic Swimming Trials, was approved for a $105.1 million rebuild on Tuesday night.
The Southern California pool, which originally opened in 1968, was the location of a number of major aquatics events and saw the best swimmers in the country at the 1968 and 1976 Olympic Trials as well as the 1974 and 1978 NCAA Championships (which were men’s meets only at the time).
In January of 2013, engineers found that the pool was structurally and seismically unsafe and was closed to the public. A temporary pool was built in December of 2013 and the original facility was demolished in 2014.
There was always a plan to build a new facility, but the new facility was continuously delayed for various reasons. There was an original delay due to a downturn in the price of oil, and then there were issues with the height of the building.
In November 2019, a new proposal was submitted that addressed concerns like recreational components, connection to disadvantaged communities, sea level rise concerns, and on site parking.
The new proposal saw the elimination of the enclosed pool facility, making it exclusively an outdoor location. They also increased spectator seating and reduced the height of the remaining building and sun shade.
After almost six more years of adjustments and negotiations, the California Coastal Commission approved the project in October of 2025.
On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council unanimously approved the 60 page proposal document submitted to rebuild the facility with the proposed budget of $105.1 million.
The new facility will have two pools. One 50 meter pool with a movable bulkhead and 4 springboards, and a combined instructional and recreational pool.
The 50m pool will also have removable “recreational elements” like climb walls and zip lines, while the combined pool will feature a “shallow therapy and learning pool, a Vortex area, and deployable volleyball and floatable features.” The pool is expected to have 544 seats for spectators in the form of bleachers.
The City had previously set aside $77.1 million for the new facility, and their approval came with an additional $28 million to complete the estimated funding.
The target construction start is summer of 2026 with a completion in Spring of 2028, just a few months before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
A wonderful landmark will be rebuilt to honor the many amazing athletes who have swum in the LB area over the decades. So happy for the community! Hopefully it will have a shallow end capable of helping infants and paraplegic individuals become water safe?
So will the temporary pool continue to be in operation? Or is this “new” facility just a revamped version of the existing Belmont Plaza pool with some extra flair?
If 1000 people use the pool per day for a decade the cost is $27 per swim. Prior to maintence and ongoing operational expense.
No platforms is a shame for such a historic location.
1 bulkhead !
Advantage:
less space and a lower cost
Disadvantage:
fewer possible variations for pool usage, for swim meets there are fewer seats (NO seats) that have decent view of the start/finish (part of that is because of the size of the bleachers and were those are placed). Unfortunately a lot of pools are built like this now a days, it is like saying, lets build a football stadium (or baseball stadium) with no seating within the last 10yds of where scoring takes place (end zone / home plate).
Building costs in CA are crazy — not surprised that it’s $100M.
The pictures show it being shallow and only deep in the diving well area. That’s not good
If it’s not an indoor pool with giant windows facing the ocean it’s not Belmont