BMCC Pool Opens After Extensive Renovations

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) is inviting members of the lower Manhattan community to visit the newly renovated state of the art swimming pool at 199 Chambers Street.

The 220,000-gallon pool underwent an extensive renovation and is now open to the BMCC community as well as residents of the area.

Admission to the pool is free for BMCC students, faculty and staff and a full schedule for recreational and lap swimming is available at the Athletics Department website. Members of the public 18-years and older, can purchase memberships for the community swim program at the BMCC Center for Continuing Education website. Lifeguards will be on duty during all hours of operation.

The pool features six competition lanes—each of which is six feet wide and 25 yards long, with a depth of four feet.

“The BMCC pool has been available to Tribeca residents since the early 1980s for memberships for lap swimming,” said BMCC Athletics Department Director Steve Kelly. “I think people in this neighborhood like the pool’s location.”

He said over the years, swimming schools had rented the pool for lessons as well.  There are also plans to eventually bring back both a women’s and men’s BMCC swim team.

The health benefits of swimming are undisputed. In addition to burning calories and improving cardiovascular health, swimming is good for stress relief as well as overall mental health. 

“As with most physical activity, swimming allows you to focus on your body, your breath, and movement instead of your daily tasks lists, next appointment, or other life worries,” said BMCC Health Education Professor Lesley Rennis. “Being submerged in water makes it easy to block out distractions and stay in tune with your body.”   

A More Sustainable Pool

The pool’s renovation included extensive aesthetic as well as infrastructure updates. Contractors also installed a state of the art Neptune-Benson Defender automatic filtration system that ensures cleaner water for swimmers without heavy chemical use and also lessens the facility’s impact on the environment.

A new motorized vinyl sheathing will cover the pool while not in operation.  The sheathing not only reduces humidity and wear and tear on the college’s HVAC systems, it will reduce the college’s demand on the electrical grid.  Overall, BMCC expects to save nearly $40,000 each year on it’s power bill with the pool improvements.

For more information on the community swim program, contact the Center for Continuing Eudcation at (212) 346-8410.