Owner demolishes abandoned St. Paul pool where two boys nearly drowned

The owner of a St. Paul apartment complex is demolishing an abandoned pool where two young brothers nearly drowned last week.

Samir Abumayyaleh, owner of Princeton Place at 461 E. Maryland Av., is going above and beyond what city officials asked him to do when they declared the pool a public nuisance last week, ordering him to repair a fence and gate "to prohibit entry" into the pool area, remove debris, clear drains and prevent the buildup of standing water.

Abumayyaleh said Monday that crews started demolishing the pool last week and should have it filled in and grass planted by the end of the week. Crews with jackhammers were there on Monday, punching holes in the bottom of the concrete pool to ensure water will drain from the area, he said.

It will then be filled in with about 135 cubic yards of dirt and graded. Grass will be planted and the fence will be removed. The project likely will cost more than $10,000, he said.

Eventually Abumayyaleh hopes to build a playground on the spot. But for now, he said he wanted to immediately fill in the abandoned pool that's become a hazard.

"Something needed to be done," he said.

Last week, two brothers got past a locked fence and fell into the pool, filled with murky runoff water. St. Paul firefighters rescued the boys, ages 7 and 10, but the younger boy remains in the hospital. Recent rains had filled the pool with about 6 feet of water on its deep end.

Abumayyaleh, 44, of Roseville, previously said he bought the property about a year and a half ago. It was clear that the pool had long since been abandoned and he said he secured the area by keeping the gate locked at all times. "I never opened the lock," he said last week. The pool, however, was not covered. Abumayyaleh said that he did not know that it had to be.

Mary Lynn Smith