McMaster University has pool plan, now it needs cash
SPORTS 06:02 PM by Scott Radley The Hamilton Spectator
https://www.thespec.com/sports-story...it-needs-cash/
It was midway through a discussion about the state of his university's pool that McMaster director of athletics Glen Grunwald mentioned the two people who drowned there this week.
What, you didn't see the latest episode of "The Handmaid's Tale"?
To be clear, nobody actually died there for real. Just actors playing a part on a TV show. No humans were harmed in any way, so no panic required. The place is entirely safe. But it does say something about the age and the state of the facility that producers felt it was had the right feel for that kind of harrowing scene.
Why does this matter?
Sometime in September the heavy equipment is going to move in to begin a massive expansion of the David Braley Athletic Centre at McMaster. As in, $60 million and 100,000-square-foot's worth. But you probably heard about that. What you might not be aware of is what comes next.
If Grunwald's master plan keeps rolling toward the conclusion he hopes, Step No. 2 will be an equally massive — OK, probably considerably more so — teardown of the university's antiquated swimming pool followed by a rebuild of an enormous new aquatic centre.
"People use our pool a lot," he says. "But it's approaching the end of its life."
The facility was built in 1967. Over 100,000 people use it every year. But by modern standards it's too narrow, too small and despite efforts to maintain it, is showing its age. To the point where pieces of the ceiling are falling. It's great for moody TV shows — it was also featured in one of the "Resident Evil" movies — but not so much for growing public demand.
That's a big part of this, Grunwald says. A new facility would take the burden off the city, which presently pays for many pools around town. Presumably some of the users could now come to Mac and take pressure off the municipality to upgrade some of those out-of-date facilities.
The director of aquatics for the Golden Horseshoe Aquatic Club — who's also the head coach of the Marauders — says its proximity to the sports medicine clinic, and many of the medical facilities on campus would make it a huge draw for seniors and those rehabbing injuries. Grey Fairley also says it would be heavily used by recreational swimmers (swimming is the No. 1 participation sport in the area) and would host 12-14 major meets a year, which would have a huge economic impact on the city.
Grunwald adds that on top of everything else, cash from rentals would make it self-sustaining.
So if all that's true, what are we waiting for? Let's start digging.
"All we need is money," Grunwald laughs.
Oh yeah, that. A lot of it, as it turns out. Something like $56 million, give or take. He says the university won't be able to cover this, so funding will have to come from various levels of government and ideally some generous benefactors. Grunwald has had plenty of conversations with politicians. He'll soon be starting his search for private donors.
The university has had great success finding them in the past. Does he expect finding one now will be any easier, harder or no different?
"We'll find out," he says.
If the big vision is achieved, the new building wouldn't just have a 10-lane pool that could be configured as either a 50-metre facility or two 25-metre tracks, a diving pool with one- and three-metre boards, a leisure pool for lessons, an accessible lap basin, a heated pool for therapeutic uses and new change rooms. It would also have space for the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame and the McMaster Sports Hall of Fame.
A physical home for the former has been sought since the concept began in 2011. Grunwald envisions a place for plaques, memorabilia and multimedia displays that people would pass on the way into the pool. Kind of a history of Hamilton sports for visitors.
He says preparing for construction of the whole thing would take a year and building it would take another couple. Meaning if everything goes perfectly, people could be splashing around four years from now.
And if the money can't be found?
"If not," Grunwald laughs, "we'll have a tremendous indoor skateboard park where the Ivor Wynne Centre pool used to be."