Demand for pools and spas has soared for Brooklyn brownstones and Manhattan penthouses
Niki Turkington and her husband’s hot tub and sauna at their Jersey City, N.J., home | Photo: Niki Turkington
Adapted From WSJ (source) | By Charles Passy May 9, 2021
With summer right around the corner, we’ve got swimming pools and staying cool on the brain. Apparently, we’re not alone. According to The Wall Street Journal, there’s a sizeable uptick in demand for pools in the region since the onset of COVID, so much so that supplies have diminished.
Understandably, people are reticent about visiting public pool options even as the threat of COVID decreases and cities are steadily coming back to normal.
In order to stay cool and safe, many New Yorkers are exploring every option available to what are typically tiny spaces with limited access, from stock tanks (yes, livestock tanks) to indoor pools (often extensions of living rooms) and the always oh-so enviable rooftop pool. But beyond the issue of supply, the costs can be astronomical (In-ground pools start at about $30K and can easily climb well into the six figures. Even above ground pools a cut above the inflatable kind can run up to $10K with proper installation) and prove logistically challenging.
In the suburbs, digging out space is a simple, straightforward affair. But in most high-rise situations, think: buckets of dirt being hauled down staircases one at a time, considerably slowing project timelines.
Niki. Turkington’s townhouse doesn’t have much of a backyard. She and her husband still managed to squeeze in this cedar hot tub and sauna.
“For pools on rooftops or decks, the weight of materials is the main problem.
It takes a certain engineering savvy to make sure the pool or spa can be supported, especially in older buildings that weren’t designed for such projects.
— Sasha Newman, Brooklyn-based Little Miracles Designs
Another challenge for pool builders working up high is getting materials, if not the entire pool structure, to the location. “We craned a pool on a roof” ”
Some units at the Soori High Line condominium development in Manhattan's West Chelsea area have pools | Photo: Van Sarki
“Bob Blanda, owner of Mill Bergen Pools, a New York-based company, said his inquiries are up by about 25% since the pandemic started. Potential customers should be prepared to wait their turn, especially since some pool-building supplies, such as resin, are in short supply, he said.
The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, a nationwide trade organization, said that pool installations across the country increased 24% to nearly 97,000 in 2020 over the prior year.”
Let’s talk about more affordable stock options ...
If you can’t deal with pricing or the hassle of construction .. take inspo from some of the folks in the related article below. Pretty, pretty cool …
Bill Vasel, owner TankAndBarrel.com, an online purveyor that offers stock tanks, said the trend goes well beyond New York, but he has sold “quite a few” to homeowners in the metropolitan area. He is as surprised as anyone by their popularity. “We normally sell these tanks to farmers,” he said.
Penny Knops recently acquired a 7’ diameter galvanized steel stock tank, costing about $1,500 with shipping, for the backyard of her brownstone in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. She was looking for something “a bit more substantial” than a plastic pool but didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars. Nor did she necessarily like the idea of having to give over her outside space to a more permanent pool solution.
get ‘er done
Instagram is awash with stock tank pools like this Joshua Tree, Calif., tub designed by Steve Halterman and Glen Steigelman • Photo: Jay Carroll for WSJ