When will the Algonquin Park pool reopen? Mayor Craig Greenberg, city leaders on timeline

The Algonquin Park pool will reopen in the spring of 2025 following extensive renovations, Mayor Craig Greenberg and other city leaders announced Tuesday.

Demolition of the old pool is set to start now and new construction will begin in the spring, Greenberg said.

“We are working together with urgency to deliver on the promise of a great pool for this park, which had not seen the investments needed since it opened in 1968," he said. "Now, it’s going to be one of the best in our city and I can’t wait to see it come to life.”

The pool closed just before last summer due to "persistent leaks" and other issues, spurring frustration from West End residents. In response, families were offered a limited supply of YMCA memberships and Kentucky Kingdom passes. The Transit Authority of River City also provided free and discounted rides around Louisville.

In a May 30 press conference discussing the pool's closure, Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins, who represents the area, accused the city of racism in its slowness to repair western Louisville's only public pool option.

Since then she has been "a thorn" in the sides of the Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation Department and administration, she said on Tuesday, and is grateful for their work and collaboration.

"As elected officials, we have to hold people accountable that we put in these seats," she said. "Thank you to Mayor Greenberg and his administration for fighting alongside me to make this vision happen."

Greenberg is thrilled the project was fully funded, he said. In December, the Louisville Metro Council voted to approve Greenberg's plan to reallocate $20 million in American Rescue Plan money to the city's parks and libraries — including the Algonquin Park pool.

"I think my colleagues on Metro Council and I are tired of the days when cities would announce projects that were partially funded, and they'd be talking about it forever and ever and ever and they would never get done," he said. "We want to take a different approach."

When the pool reopens, it will have a family slide, lily pad bridge, zero-depth entry ramp, climbing wall and a vortex, Greenberg said.

And while it will be more than a year before the pool is complete, Greenberg also announced Algonquin Park will offer free public WiFi "with five total access points" that should be completed by the end of the week.

However, it is unclear what programs will be available to West End residents for the summer of 2024. Greenberg and Hawkins said they are looking into options.

"We're working on plans right now not just for Algonquin neighbors, but for other neighbors across the city for summer programming," Greenberg said. "And we hope to have some announcements in the near future about that."

Hawkins added that she is looking to bring programming to Algonquin "close to where the pool is going to be" and that "we're going to give more options this year, but more structure."

She also added that she hopes to secure funding for a "bubble" to enclose the pool in the future.

"The West deserves the best," she said. "It's been well overdue and this is just the beginning. The second phase is the bubble."

Reach reporter Eleanor McCrary at EMcCrary@courier-journal.com or at @ellie_mccrary on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Algonquin Park pool to reopen in the spring of 2025 with new amenities