Lane 9 News Archive: Big Pool Plans Coming Down Pipe In Florida; Bruce Wigo Talks on Swimming World Radio About ISHOF's Role

Big Pool Plans Coming Down Pipe In Florida; Bruce Wigo Talks on Swimming World Radio About ISHOF's Role -- January 9, 2008

"We think it's very important for there to be a 'wow' factor." - Michael Jenkins

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, January 9. IN a pair of articles emerging today from Florida, it looks like policy-setters in the area are looking to make some serious upgrades to the swimming infrastructure of the state.

Click on the Swimming World Radio button on the right to listen to Bruce Wigo, CEO for the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) talk about the project and its possibilities.

Through an 88-page proposal from Leisure and Recreation Concepts, Inc., Fort Lauderdale may look to create a new site for ISHOF, according to an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The proposed facility would "have three competitive event pools with a retractable-cover grandstand, a new Hall of Fame museum, a water park with slides and kiddie pools, a restaurant, an aquarium in which visitors journey through an acrylic tunnel, surrounded by water and marine life on all sides, and a four-level parking garage with 262 spaces."

Overall, the project could wind up costing $51-72 million, but projections state the increased usage revenue would cover the expense within five years. The current facility operates at a $1 million loss each year.

"We think it's very important for there to be a 'wow' factor," Michael Jenkins, founder and president of Leisure and Recreation Concepts, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "For people to say, 'Wow, I'm glad I came to Fort Lauderdale. Wow, I'm glad I came to this facility.'"

In other news coming out of the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Ryan Lochte's father, Steve, is working on a movement to bring the Olympic Trials pool from Omaha to the Daytona Beach area. Lochte has plans to place the pool next to the Port Orange YMCA.

According to the article, Lochte is looking to "raise $100,000 for a down payment by the end of February, which would reserve the pool once the trials for the Beijing Olympics are concluded."

The pool will cost $1 million overall, and Myrtha Pools has stated that the cost will be nearly half-a-million less than the standard cost to build the same type of pool.

Full text of South Florida Sun-Sentinel report.

Full text of Daytona Beach News-Journal report.

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