Leaking money
Brooklyn’s ‘jewel’ pool swimming in problems
A restoration of the city’s “crown jewel” public swimming pool has turned into a money pit after it began falling apart immediately after its 2012 grand reopening, The Post has learned.
The Parks Department is enmeshed in a legal battle with contractors who oversaw a $54 million restoration of the McCarren Park pool in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and its adjacent historic bathhouse.
The agency alleges in court papers and internal memos obtained through the Freedom of Information Law that shoddy work by architect Rogers Marvel, lead con- tractor Commodore Construction Corp. and other parties left the Robert Moses-era Olympic-size pool plagued with “broken” piping, extensive cracking throughout the pool’s basin and deck area, and other problems.
Normally, the rehabilitated pool would be expected to last 50 to 75 years. But a report from the consulting firm HAKS noted in October 2013 report that the pool’s concrete decking will need to be replaced “within a decade.”
The Parks Department said it has been forced to regularly perform temporary patchwork and other repairs to ensure the pool remains open each summer.
The city has set aside $14 million for a future project that it hopes permanently fixes the existing structural problems.
“This was a high-profile project — but sadly it was rushed, and it’s a shame because taxpayers will now have to pay the price for an already expensive job that should have been done right in the first place,” said Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates.
In 2015, The Post first reported that the park’s two bathhouse buildings, which were converted into a recreation center and other amenities, were plagued with cracked walls and leaks.
Months later, the city sued the project’s contractors in Manhattan Supreme Court, noting that the pool itself was also in bad shape.
Commodore alleges in its own lawsuit that the Parks Department is at fault for signing off on a flawed design by Rogers Marvel.
The company is seeking roughly $2.7 million in payments that the city has withheld.
“Rather than pursue a design that would minimize the risks, the city went with a cheaper design,” said Commodore lawyer George Pallas.
John Simino, a lawyer for Rogers Marvel, said the company is “very proud” of its “contribution toward the city’s mission to bring back to life this . . . historically significant pool facility” and “denies that [its] design . . . failed to meet” the any requirements.