Astoria, Parks
Feb 09, 2018

Progress on the Astoria Park Diving Pool Project

Construction is underway.

Share this Scoop

total shares!

Last weekend the Astoria Park Alliance posted a photo to their Facebook page stating, “We are excited to see that New York City Department of Parks & Recreation has officially begun construction on the new public plaza being installed at the site of the old diving pool in Astoria Park.” There’s also been some chatter in the Astoria, Queens Facebook group, with folks wondering what’s up with the progress. Conjecture is all well and good, but I wanted to hear something more official, so I reached out to Parks and they responded with this update:

“Construction began in late November 2017. Contractors have been working on stabilization underneath the pool, and have already begun filling the basin.” You can see the all the gravel they’ve added in the photo below:

astoria-pool-construction-parks-nyc

Photo credit: NYC Parks

It will also be filled with cement, as per a previous update from Parks. Local signs in the immediate area project a two-year time period to transform the space; Parks tells us that they “anticipate completing the project by November 2019.” As for it’s future use, Parks originally told us that “the plaza will be able to host a variety of programs, it will add more accessible area to the pool deck and the park, and it has the possibility to be used outside of the pool season.”

We’ll post more updates as we have them.

This post has been edited.

About Meg Cotner

Meg Cotner was trained as a harpsichordist and now works as a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of "Food Lovers' Guide to Queens," and is a skilled and avid home cook, baker, and preserver.

7 Comments

Maria Petro

Why don’t they just have the pool open summer nights for adults with live Dj & entertainment, also drinks & BBQ. Charge a small admission fee at the door? That would be so cool . So what exactly are they going to build over in that portion of that pool? Walk way? Lounging area? Mini food stands?

Reply
Vanessa

I just don’t understand why it takes two years to “fill in a pool with cement” and making it ready for public. Some high rise buildings take as much as that to built. No wonder why cost is at such a high level.

Reply
Karen

Glorified pavement job destroying a wonderful NYC landmark diving pool for a pavement for millions more than to restore the pool is obscene. The pool was designed to be used off season with a cover or a retractable state, it’s all in the NYC landmarks documents online if you really want the truth. We have so much pavement and so little green and so few public swimming pools. Unforgivable.

Reply
Joseph

Agreed !! After SO many years in desperate need of attention, it’s such a disgrace for such a remarkable amenity become a paved nothing. Astoria Park is such a rare jewel — sizable expanse of lawn, trees and amazing architecture (Hell Gate Approach, Moses-era pools & structures). I have older relatives who frequented both the swimming & diving pools. We always looked forward to their restoration.

I was never a fan of the city’s (failed) Olympic bid, but the restoration of this pool would most likely have benefitted the diving pool. Now, we get a bland, paved-over pavilion on the footprint of the diving pool. Worse than sad — Unforgivable.

Reply
Mike

You’re absolutely right Karen!! loved that diving pool and spent most pf my teen years swimming and diving from the platform, it’s a sin what they are doing! The $50 M could have been used to repair it as well as improvements to the rest of the pool! It’s a shame these kids today will not experience the dive as my and my father’s generation did!!

Reply
JLa

So glad to see this project is in motion. Having an outdoor space for performing arts and other purposes will add to all the artistic and cultural activities already happening in Astoria. Thanks NYC Parks, and thanks to Peter Vallone for starting this endeavor and Costa Constantinides for continuing to support it.

Reply
Jan

It’s so nice to see the pool area be of use after all these years. It was disconcerting to see petitions for the reconstruction to be halted but fortunately they didn’t amount to much besides chatter. Way to go Parks! Way to go Costa!

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.