The city of San Antonio, Texas, is funneling $3 million into renovations for the San Antonio Natatorium, the only Olympic-sized swimming pool operated by the city.
The natatorium, located on West César E. Chávez Boulevard on the West Side, will see upgrades in the form of renovated locker rooms, a lobby and a retractable roof. The renovations come after the facility’s roof was damaged in a storm a while back.
The pool brings in 36,000 visitors annually and previously served as the training site for local Olympians and elite-level swimmers, including Josh Davis and Adrian Montoya.
Davis won three gold medals at the 1996 Olympic Games and two silver medals at the 2000 Games, while Montoya qualified for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in the 100 back in 2000.
A joint venture between the city and the San Antonio Independent School District, the natatorium first opened its doors in 1981 and is now an iconic feature in the city’s swimming community. It hosts a variety of SAISD-related swim meets, as well as swim-related programs and exercises offered by the city’s parks and recreation department.
The pool will reopen to the public once construction is completed, with the aim being to open later this summer.
I’ll take a turn at clarifying…
The SA natatorium is the only 50m pool owned by the city. It’s a great old pool and have I worked out there a few times and had a great swim meet there when I was 15yrs old in 1988 at a Texas vs Mexico all star meet. That wasn’t my home pool but Coach Don Walker the main coach there for many years was a great guy and did much good for the pool and swimming in that part of town.
30 minutes away on the north central side of town is the Bill Walker/Josh Davis pool. Two great pools, 50m and 25m, and has hosted some TYR Pro events and is… Read more »
Really. The city needs to work on upgrading streets and sidewalks on the SW side before the upgrade a pool.
San Antonio is hosting the masters nationals April 2025.
I’m hoping to go! I hope the renovations will be done by then!
Different pool for USMS nationals than the one being renovated.
If the City of San Antonio is spending that much to renovate the facility, then under the 1914 federal Americans with Disabilities act they must also make the facility fully ADA compliant both for spectators and swimmers. Most older facilities both at universities and public facilities are not compliant, epically for spectators.
The amount of renovations are peanuts, really. Yes, the roof is good and needed, but SO much more could be done on water quality, score board, visitor amenities — but, hey, SA is not the wealthiest city in Texas (far from it) so, I’m OK with $3 million.
Not sure about the US, but $3 million doesn’t sound much.. North Sydney Pool is being renovated at a cost of over $USD80million….here in little Adelaide we getting a fully renovated new pool in North Adelaide (to complement the international standard one we already have that often hosts national trials) and it is costing $USD90million.
Ya there are multiple 50 meter pools in San Antonio, including one on Fort Sam Houston.
Title possibly means the only one actually owned by the city?