After 10 months of construction, the Rockville Swim and Fitness Center will re-open its two outdoor recreation pools Monday, with a variety of new amenities.
The new recreation pools are full of play structures including: two 26-foot-tall stand-alone water slides, a playground structure that sits in 18 inches of water, floating lily pads under swinging ropes, and a smaller slide that feeds into the pool.
“It provides experiences for people of all ages — from really exciting and thrill-seeking adventures to more passive recreation,” Adam Goldstein, the swim and fitness center’s superintendent, told Bethesda Today during a Wednesday afternoon visit.
The city of Rockville allocated almost $6 million to the swim and fitness center over 2024 and 2025 to fund the renovations and all other expenditures, according to the city’s fiscal year 2025 budget. The center brought in just more than $5.1 million in revenue during that time frame.
Goldstein said an assessment determined the former recreation pool, built in 1991, was due for renovations to bring the swimming facility up to modern-day standards. The recreation pools closed for renovations on Aug. 17, 2024.
The swim and fitness center, which also includes two indoor pools, a fitness room, spa and sauna, receives nearly 400,000 visits annually, according to Goldstein.
“One of the design considerations was to really spread out the different amenities throughout the complex, rather than have a concentrated hot spot of activity,” he said.
Goldstein doesn’t anticipate the center will see an especially high volume of visitors on Monday’s opening day because local summer camps have reserved use of the pools, but the center is preparing for a high volume of guests during Fourth of July weekend.
The center has a variety of membership options with different rates depending on whether the guest is a resident of the city of Rockville. Rockville residents can purchase a day pass for the pools for $7 while the fee for non-residents is $8. The center also offers discounted rates for seniors age 60 and over and families.
The recreation pools will remain open until Labor Day weekend while the outdoor fitness pool stays open into October.
Max Schaeffer is a Bethesda Today summer intern.
