A New Water Park with With an Olympic-Size Pool and Beach Could be Coming to the Schuylkill Riverfront
Folks living along the Schuylkill river could soon say that they have beachfront property. In a recent announcement University City District (UCD) released plans for a bi-level water park that would be located near 30th Street Station along the Schuylkill river.
The water park would feature a public olympic size pool as well as a man made beach and other amenities including a restaurant and developers state that water park and beach would be able to withstand a 500-year storm event. In addition to the pool and beach, the design of this two tier feature will also include trees on the upper deck and easy access from street level as well as spaces for food trucks to park and vend. However, perhaps the coolest feature will be a proposed slide that patrons can use to get to pool level.
As stated the lower level will feature an Olympic-size pool as well as a kayak grotto and a cafe. As for the beach, UCD plans on having sand trucked in.
According to a recent article by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Nate Hommel who is the Director of Planning and Design for the University City District Nate Hommel stated, “A lot of folks don’t have the resources to get to the Jersey Shore, so this will be a place where kids from West Philly can take a trolley to a beach. This is not a private club that is exclusive and requires steep membership.”
UCD did state that this project will come with a hefty $60 million price tag and that fundraising has already begun. However, according to the Inquirer, “Hommel expects to approach the city for capital funds, as well as the University of Pennsylvania and the area’s other anchor institutions.” He added, “We’re going to have to use some of our history of partnering with folks: public funding, private source We’re confident we can get the job done, and so we’re hoping to get a lot of excitement in the donor world to help us out with this.”
