PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Driving through the streets of Pine Bluff you’ll notice lots of construction.
Pine Bluff’s new aquatics center is near completion and Mayor Shirley Washington said he can’t wait to see the pools filled with water and people.
“This facility is going to fit that bill,” Washington said.
The kiddy pool and competition pool have already been constructed. These facilities will give kids something fun to do, where they could even learn safety skills.
“It will offer swim lessons for the many kids in our community who have not had the opportunity because there has not been a facility,” Washington said.
City staff are excited to help non-swimmers turn into competitive swimmers, and Mayor Washington sees big things in the future.
“We hope to send a swimmer from the Pine Bluff Aquatics Center to compete in the 2028 Olympics,” Washington said.
Aquatics Director T.R. Santos said a slide which will go in and out of the building just arrived Tuesday.
“They’re putting the windows in now and they’re going to start working on the pools and it’s going to be a first-rate facility,” Santos said.
They plan to have the facility open to the public sometime this summer.
“It’s been fun to go out because I’ve gone out and visited with people and I have some people go, ‘There’s an aquatic center here?’ And they got this look on their face and so when I talk about it and tell them what it is then they kind of get excited,” Santos said.
Not far from the aquatics center construction for the new public library is underway.
“We are part of the transformation of downtown Pine Bluff and we are going to be a transforming force,” Director of Special Projects Taylor Eubank said.
They expect the building to be up and running in a year.
For now, the residents can continue to watch it go up whenever they’re on Main Street.
“This is in its time and this is of its time,” Eubank said.