Cherry Hill Township has opened Kingston Park on Deland Avenue, a $5 million public recreation space with basketball courts, playground equipment and other amenities. The site was formerly home to the Kingston Estates Swim Club, which opened in June 1957 and closed decades later, according to 70and73.com.
From Foreclosure to Ribbon-Cutting
The club had been struggling for years before it finally shut down. According to 70and73.com, the club closed after Labor Day, as recalled by Cherry Hill Township Council member Rob Connor, whose family lived across the street and whose daughters grew up swimming there. The nonprofit that ran the pool had stopped making mortgage payments amid rising maintenance costs, and TD Bank moved to foreclose. The Courier Post reported the club owed more than $500,000 to the bank as of November 2018, after TD Bank formally served notice of its intent to foreclose on Oct. 29 of that year, and that membership and revenue had fallen every year from 2017 through 2019, according to the Courier Post. The club formally closed in 2020 when the bank foreclosed, the outlet later reported.
The township bought the institutionally zoned property to keep it from being developed for another use, according to Courier-Post. Published accounts differ on the purchase price: one reported $441,000, while another put the October 2020 acquisition at $425,000. The purchase kept the land public as the township moved through planning, demolition and environmental cleanup.
Digging Out Decades of History
Preparing the site involved demolition and environmental work. Because the land had agricultural roots before the swim club, it required remediation for pesticides and other pollutants in the soil, according to 70and73.com. The township funded a $1.4 million demolition and remediation project, Courier-Post reported in its coverage of the teardown, Courier-Post. Construction records for the 2025 Kingston Park Improvements project describe work at 116 Deland Avenue, including a gaga court, hockey court, basketball courts and other amenities, according to filings reviewed by constructionbidsource.com. The township also worked with the Greater Kingston Civic Association on a design intended to serve the wider community.
At the opening, Mayor David Fleisher credited the project to cooperation between the township and the neighborhood, and thanked residents and the township for investing in the area and preserving the property's history. Yolanda “Yoli” Lorenz, who leads the Greater Kingston Civic Association and was a club member, described the pool as a place where lasting relationships formed and the park opening as a reunion. She said the new park is open to everybody.
A Development Amenity Turned Community Landmark
The club was established as Kingston Estates was being developed. The pool was part of the subdivision’s original marketing pitch; homes off Route 70 sold for $16,990 in 1960. A nonprofit opened the club in June 1957 on nearly four acres donated by the developer, after 355 membership bonds were sold the previous year, according to 70and73.com. During its 62 years, the club hosted social events, swimming and diving championships and tri-county meets. Its teams competed against 13 other neighborhood swim clubs.
Jerry Thompson, who moved to the Kingston development in 1983, is writing a history of the swim club and recalls a place woven into daily neighborhood life. Connor remembered neighbors racing to be first in the water on Memorial Day weekend and the last ones out on Labor Day. Club members once also joined men's softball and basketball teams and a mixed volleyball team, and a women's softball team tied to the old club still competes against other clubs today. Had it survived, the Kingston Estates Swim Club would have turned 70 years old next year.
Kingston Park is open year-round and includes colorful playground equipment, a basketball court and other amenities on the former club grounds.
Part of a Larger Recreation Network
Kingston Park joins a municipal system that already spans more than 50 recreation facilities. Cherry Hill Township says those facilities offer amenities including tennis, basketball, trails and playground equipment.
The opening marks a change in how the Deland Avenue property serves the neighborhood: a former private swim club site is now a public park. After years of planning and work on the property, the courts and playground are available to the community.
