A five-lane, 25-yard swimming pool in north Minneapolis was filled with water this month for the first time, finally bringing to life plans that were years in the making.
“This pool is spectacular,” said Malik Rucker, a fifth-generation North Sider and the executive director of V3 Sports. “It doesn’t feel real.”
The pool is the centerpiece of V3 Sports’ new $25 million aquatics and fitness center — the first phase for a $97 million aquatics and sports complex that aims to fill a void of community amenities on the North Side and become a regional destination. The V3 Center also is one of the largest recent projects in north Minneapolis.
“It’s really a world-class space,” Rucker said. “It’s long overdue. We’ve been underinvested in for so long.”
V3 Sports started in 2007 to boost access to swimming for kids of color, but had to use school pools and parks nearby. The new 40,000-square-foot site will open to the public in April or May, with a formal grand opening June 15. Most programming will kick off next fall.
The second phase, which is slated to open in 2027, is nearly four times larger and will feature a 50-meter Olympic-sized indoor competition pool — only the third of its type in Minnesota. Community leaders hope the project revitalizes a high-profile corner of Plymouth Avenue N. and Lyndale Avenue, inspiring more economic development in what’s long been a disadvantaged area.
“People will see that north Minneapolis has more assets than deficits,” said state Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, who authored a bill that passed last year funding $15 million for the V3 Center, which is in his Minneapolis district. “It’s important for our kids to see the investment being built in our neighborhood and know that we deserve it as well, not just when you go to Medina, Edina or other places like that.”
The options for Minneapolis swimmers shrank after the YWCA Minneapolis closed its longstanding Uptown and downtown pools and fitness centers last fall. Children of color in Minnesota and nationwide face higher drowning rates in part because of the lack of access to pools or swimming lessons.