A TRData dive into more than three years of Department of Buildings data revealed at least 96 swimming pools have been included in planned hotel and residential projects of at least 50,000 square feet. The overwhelming majority of those pools (66) were included in plans for projects in Manhattan. Just one qualifying Bronx project had a pool in the building plans reviewed.
Source: DOB permits for residential applications and hotel projects of at least 50,000 square feet
Most of the pools TRData found are parts of full-floor amenity areas. Many en suite pools belonging to a single residential apartment are not required by the Department of Buildings to be included in building plans, and as such are not all accounted for here. Of the pools in the count, the majority were planned for either cellar-level or lower level floors in the first few stories of the building. About a fifth of pools found were set for rooftops or top floors.
Source: DOB permits for residential applications and hotel projects of at least 50,000 square feet
Long Island City, Queens registered more planned pools than any other neighborhood in TRData’s count. Eric Benaim, founder of the Long Island City-based brokerage Modern Spaces [TRDataCustom], said the large floor plates developers work with in Long Island City make the addition of pools more feasible than in many other areas of the city. The influx of mega-projects with hundreds of units have made pools a more likely amenity there too, he said, an added bonus to attract the large number of tenants needed to successfully fill new buildings.
Reginald Barley, Jr. contributed research to this report.