Thanks to Lucy Johnson for contributing to this report.
At a public meeting of the city council on Saturday, The City of Long Beach in conjunction with the project’s architects revealed the proposed designs for the new Belmont Pool.
The new design will replace the iconic 47-year old one that was demolished in late 2014 after it was found to be unsafe.
While the building’s tenants are currently using a temporary 50 meter pool that was built in the parking lot, planning is continuing on a new facility that will include:
- an indoor 8-lane 50-meter pool with a movable floor on one end,
- an indoor 8-lane 25 yard diving well,
- an indoor teaching pool,
- an indoor teaching pool,
- an indoor spa,
- an outdoor 8-lane 50 meter pool, and
- an outdoor recreation pool
The proposed facility design will include elevated second-floor seating for 1,250, plus a second floor outdoor sun-deck.
The most unique aspect of the facility is that the entire indoor competition space is designed to be covered by a transparent roof that will flood the facility with the natural light often lacking from darkened, yellowed natatoriums.
The facility will also loom much larger on the coastline that the pool it’s replacing – the peak of its profile is approximately 19 feet higher than the original Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.
The architects put out a survey in May of 2015 to engage the local community in the design of the new facility.After receiving 506 responses, 5 key design points emerged:
- Natural Colors
- Exposed Structure
- Round Edges
- Simple Shapes, Trusses
- Variety of Shapes
The following materials were also preferred by the public as the result of the survey:
- Glass
- Exposed Steel
- Concrete
- Polymer Panels
- Wood
- Concrete Block, Brick
After considering the input, the architects established 5 goals to “create a facility unlike any municipal aquatics facility on the West Coast,” according to the presentation.
- Facility that is in harmony with the neighborhood
- Employs an iconic and sustainable design
- Meets the needs of our local residents
- Can support competitive events as desired
- Supports the Coastal Act
Due to a drop in oil prices, which impacts the bucket of money that will be funding the project, the city currently only has enough money budgeted to complete the entitlement process and finalize construction documents, and the city council is working on finding ways to make up the budget shortfall on the project that was originally booked at $103 million, but is expected to rise due to rising construction costs.
The current project timeline has construction beginning no earlier than the fall of 2018, and no later than the spring of 2020, depending on the price of oil. With a projected 18 month construction period, that means the facility will be completed at earliest in mid-2020, and at latest late 2022.
Below, we’ve selected a few of the artist’s renderings. To see the full presentation with all of the images, click here.
That’s a really ambitious design and project but I love it. Hope it gets built…the state and county should step up if needed to get it funded.
We agree with TA about trying to get the county and state to assist with funding!
I hope this happens, but I fear it never will. I loved the old pool back in the day, and I hope they find the money to make something great. $103 million and multiple years of contruction? I do not trust Califorina government that much(or actually at all)
WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every day I drove past the old Belmont pool but am incredibly excited to see this come to life! Well done, Long Beach!