This upcoming spring, Pier Park will begin its pool renovations. Demolition is scheduled to begin the week of March 16, and construction will continue until approximately May of 2027. The construction plans consist of making a separate leisure pool from the competition pool, increasing the size of the baby pool, a newly renovated splash pad and new bathrooms, including a new family bathroom.
The timing of all the construction raises lots of questions from the park members and staff of what they are going to do this summer. Parks and Recreation Director of Pier Park, Chris Galatis, assures residents that the renovations will benefit the park and that there are other remedies for members and staff.
“We worked it out with [the other parks] to let them know that we have over 40 lifeguards that are going to be out of work this summer, and encourage them to apply there in hopes those cities will hire them,” Galatis said.
As for the Pier Park residents, a new system will be put in place so they have the chance to utilize both Lake Front Park in the Woods, and Windmill Pointe Park in the Park. Each resident will get a yellow or orange pass, and for the first half of the summer the yellow pass will get to use Lake Front Park and for the second half will get to use Windmill Pointe Park, and orange is vice versa. The summer will be split from May 25 to July 15, then from July 16 to Sept. This plan worries some families, like Farms resident Nicole Mulvany. Mulvany has two young children who go to the park almost every day in the summer with their friends, and the park’s closing will likely substantially affect their schedule.
“If some of our friends have different passes for different times, we won’t ever get to see them if they do it that way,” Mulvany said. “We would go to the park just to go, but it wouldn’t be the same experience as it is now because we don’t know who has what pass.”
Even with the construction, kids still have the opportunity to do all the activities that all the parks provide, like swim team, just at one of the other parks. However, a main concern is staff personnel, and what they are going to do over the summer. Lifeguards can apply to other parks, but the job is not guaranteed. Daphne Kirby ’27 has lifeguarded for one summer at Pier Park, and she said that the construction is too much and not worth it.
“It’s going to get so crowded at the other parks, because all of the Pier Park residents are being split up. Who knows what could happen during this summer?” Kirby said.
Even with the doubts of Grosse Pointe citizens, many are still excited about the new and improved pool coming to Pier Park. The park also encourages residents to visit Pier Park’s website if they wish to learn more about what is happening.
“[The new renovations] will be a brand new state-of-the-art-facility,” Galatis said. “It’ll be an amazing facility once it’s completed.”
