Southfield officially broke ground Wednesday on a roughly $26 million Aquatic Center that will bring a lazy river, an indoor-outdoor water slide and a splash pad to the site of the city's long-closed municipal pool. The ceremony took place outside the Southfield Sports Arena at 26000 Evergreen Road at 4 p.m., marking the start of construction on a project years in the making for a city that has gone without a public pool since 2022.
The project calls for a 28,000-square-foot addition, renovation of roughly 10,000 square feet of existing facility space, and demolition of the former outdoor pool, according to the City of Southfield. As LittleGuide Detroit reported, the new center is expected to open in winter 2028. The city's previous pool, which dated to the early 1970s, had sat closed for more than three years because of aging infrastructure, per a report from C&G Newspapers.
What's Going In the Water
The city's announcement details a long list of attractions planned for the new center. Among them is a 4,900-square-foot leisure pool with zero-depth entry and interactive water features, along with a lazy river featuring spray elements and a conversation cove, the city says. The project also includes a children's water play area with a splash pad, pool bubblers, spray features, ground-level water jets and double kiddie racer slides.
Swimmers hoping for more serious laps will get a 75-foot, four-lane pool equipped with starting blocks. The facility notes it will also include a therapeutic pool intended for water aerobics and low-impact exercise, supporting both fitness programming and gentler community use. The city's plans round out with new locker rooms, an event space and a wet classroom designed for swim lessons.
An Indoor-Outdoor Slide and a Long-Running Resident Request
One of the more distinctive features is an indoor/outdoor water slide described by the city as one that travels outside the building before returning indoors, a design meant to make the center usable in every season. Southfield officials have said the new facility is intended to operate year-round given its cost, with one official noting it would be too expensive to build a pool and use it only part of the year, the same report from C&G Newspapers states.
The push for an indoor pool traces back to Southfield's Parks and Recreation Master Plan process, which the city says outlined residents' desire for exactly this kind of facility. City officials have also said the former pool did not meet ADA accessibility requirements, adding urgency to the push for a replacement. The city had set aside $22.5 million in its budget for the project before the estimated cost rose to roughly $26 million.
How It Stacks Up Against Other Metro Detroit Pools
Southfield's planned amenities put it in company with several other aquatic centers around the region. The Hawk Aquatics Center in Farmington Hills offers a lazy river, zero-depth entry, lap lanes, a water slide and a climbing wall, according to the City of Farmington Hills, along with group swim lessons and rentable party space. The Romulus Athletic Center, meanwhile, is a five-pool complex holding more than 280,000 gallons of water, per the Romulus Athletic Center, with a lazy river and a slide over 120 feet long that empties into a plunge pool.
Other regional facilities offer similar features, though some details come from limited source material. Livonia's recreation center is described as having a 250-foot water slide connected to a lazy river, while Macomb Township's Aquatics Center is described as featuring four 20-yard lap lanes, a water slide and a lazy river with a vortex and waterfall. Dearborn's Ford Community & Performing Arts Center rounds out the list with an indoor lap pool and leisure pool that includes zero-depth entry, a lazy river, water slides and a whirlpool spa.
For now, Southfield residents will need to wait out the construction timeline before diving in. No opening date beyond winter 2028 has been specified, and details on hours, pricing or membership have not yet been released.
