The new floating pool has been such a huge success on the Brooklyn Heights waterfront this summer the city plans to tow it elsewhere next year to give another neighborhood a chance to enjoy it, officials confirmed yesterday.
But Brooklynites who got used to the pool and beach – with its panoramic harbor views – want it to stay put.
“We’ve been waiting for Brooklyn Bridge Park for decades, we finally get a taste of it and now they want to take it away?” said Lauren Sheridan, a 29-year-old dance teacher from Park Slope.
“It makes no sense. It’s the coolest thing, and it’s a lot closer for me than heading out to Coney Island.”
The floating pool and man-made beach between Piers 4 and 5 served as preludes to the state’s long-delayed, 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park project, which is to be built mostly on the massive piers jutting out of the shoreline from Atlantic Avenue to just north of the Manhattan Bridge.
There had been speculation the pool would return to Brooklyn next summer, considering park construction was recently set back and the pool and beach’s attendance greatly exceeded expectations.
More than 63,000 people have packed the pool since it opened on July 4, and the number is expected to approach 70,000 by the time it closes for the summer on Labor Day, officials said.
But the city Parks Department, which will take ownership of the pool barge by next year, ended that debate yesterday, telling The Post, “Our plan is to have it visit a different borough next summer.”
The seven-lane “Floating Pool Lady” is the brainchild of author Ann Buttenwieser, who runs a foundation dedicated to reviving the city’s swimming “baths” popular in the late 1800s. Officials confirmed her foundation is donating the pool to the city in time for next summer.
The pool, Buttenwieser’s first, is 4 feet deep and holds up to 175 people.
Sunbathers at the pool site this summer are also able to soak in rays on a one-acre makeshift beach, complete with rentable umbrellas, beach chairs, a volleyball area and food-concession stands on the piers.
The beach – which holds 1,000 people – was modeled after the successful Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, Queens, with one exception – no alcohol.
“The pool has given us a chance to see just how many people want a park here,” said Mariana Koval, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy.
She said she’d “love to have the pool back next year” but understands the city’s desire to share.