After a year of delays, public pool almost ready
There may have been months of construction delays, but the city isn’t taking a bath on its new swimming pool.
A new public pool near the Santa Monica College was supposed to be finished last year, but the contractor — Vahdani Construction — went bankrupt in the middle of the project.
The pool, scheduled to be ready for the summer, will replace the original one damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.
When Vahdani Construction walked off the job, the city got its money back and hired San Francisco-based Swinerton Builders to finish it. After adding new improvements to the original $5.3 million contract, the price of the project swelled to $6.85 million.
But Vahdani’s insurance company had to cover the $1.55 million increase in the project’s cost, leaving the city with no added expenses.
“Obviously, we were very lucky,” said Brett Horner, senior analyst with the city’s department of parks and community facility planning.
Calls to Vahdani Construction for comment Thursday were not returned.
The city council on Tuesday gave the go ahead to City Manager Susan McCarthy to finish negotiations with Swinerton and approve more features like an extra retaining wall.
The new facility, located at the corner of Pico Boulevard and 17th Street, will have one Olympic-sized 50-meter competition pool and one smaller instructional and recreational pool.
There also will be a two-story structure in between the two pools which will house offices, locker rooms and showers.
Planning the new swimming pool facility began in 1998. But before construction of the pool could occur, the city had to demolish a condemned Santa Monica parking structure. At the end of 1999, the first construction permits were issued by the city.
“The demolition was done first to speed things up,” said Horner. “Most of the money for the pools is from federal block grant money, for earthquake damage.”
The foundations for both swimming pools have been installed and workers are now finishing the facility’s building and the plumbing systems, officials said.
In addition to uses by local aquatic groups, the new pool also will be home to the Santa Monica College’s swim team. Since the city demolished the old facility in 1999, the team has-n’t had a place of their own to practice.
“We are as eager to see this project completed as anybody else,” said Santa Monica College spokesman Bruce Smith.
City officials say they have received some complaints about the long construction delays, and the lack of public swimming facilities in the city.
“We’re down so many pools because of the (Northridge) earthquake,” said Horner. “Right now we are down to one pool at Santa Monica High School. That’s why we’ve been trying to fast track this (project) and get the pool open real soon.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 15, 2002. Read the original PDF.