Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
New pool near Central Park's Harlem Meer opens Friday
By
Liam Quigley
Published Jun 23, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Liam Quigley / Gothamist
By
Liam Quigley
Published Jun 23, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A huge new pool at the northern end of Central Park is about to open for the summer after years of work.
The Gottesman Pool is the centerpiece of the new $160 million Davis Center near the Harlem Meer. With room for more than 1,000 swimmers, it’s among the largest public pools in New York City.
The gorgeous oval-shaped pool, which was designed to blend in with the park’s greenery, is set to open Friday, along with the city’s other 51 public pools. The center officially opened to the public at the end of April.
People were clamoring to get in the pool a week before its official opening date, with some passerby likening it to an oasis. The new pool replaced the outdated Lasker Rink & Pool.
“This is a hundred times better,” said Carlos Arcas, a retired airline worker who was eating lunch on an overlook constructed above the 285-foot-long pool.
“When sitting here, I don’t feel like I’m in New York,” he added. “They did some job over here.”
Workers were still putting the finishing touches on the bathrooms.
The new $160 million Davis Center features glass doors looking onto the pool deck.
Liam Quigley / Gothamist
The new facility features an atrium with a wall of glass doors that open to the pool deck. There’s also space for distribution of free lunches to city schoolchildren.
While the pristine new pool evokes the Standard Hotel and the new facility features sleek finishes like an Apple store, it’s still a public pool. No identification is required for entry, no booze is allowed and only plain white shirts can be worn on the pool deck.
The pool space will be converted to a turf field in the fall and an ice rink in the winter. Officials with the Central Park Conservancy said that process takes about 18 days.
The pool can be converted into a turf field or ice skating rink.
Central Park Conservancy
A woman passing by shouted a flurry of thank-yous to the workers standing near the pool Friday, including Mark Focht, the chief operating officer of the city parks department.
“It’s great. So many people have been stopping by the gate, and just asking when we’re going to open," Focht said. "They’ve been without a pool for five years serving Harlem, serving the community north of Central Park."
Tagged
manhattan
parks
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .