This past summer, swimmers from Grosse Pointe Farms had to drive to parks in Grosse Pointe Woods or Grosse Pointe Park while their own pool at Pier Park was rebuilt, C&G Newspapers reported in August. Next summer that traffic is set to reverse. Grosse Pointe Shores is taking its Osius Park pool offline for a full replacement, and the Farms has agreed to share Pier Park while the work goes on.
The timing is planned. Two neighboring cities are rebuilding their lakefront pools one after the other, each for roughly $14 million, and both are counting on the other Pointes to cover their swimmers in the meantime. For Shores families, the summer of 2027 looks a lot like the summer the Farms just finished.
What's happening at Osius Park this fall
The September 15, 2026 Shores council minutes said pool demolition would begin in October. The city wants to keep the park bathrooms open until the marina season ends on November 15. Work had already started a month before that. At the Parks Committee's August 18 meeting, Public Works Director Mike Way reported that the bathhouse was being taken apart and anything worth saving was being pulled out first.
Boaters still have a few weeks left in the season. The marina runs through November 15. The September minutes also say new finger pier signage is going in to make the docks easier to find your way around, and the Harbor Committee's council liaison, John Seago, called the signs a fiscally responsible improvement.
The pool that kept closing
The old pool closed about half a dozen times in summer 2026 for mechanical problems, Grosse Pointe News reported in September. Rob Satler, president of the Grosse Pointe Shores Improvement Foundation, told the paper the closures had been "happening more and more the last few years."
"It outlived its design life at least 20 years ago," Satler told Grosse Pointe News.
That matches the city's own history. In 2025, Grosse Pointe News reported that the pool was 60 years old and that a review 25 years earlier had already called for replacing it.
The bigger limit was the pool's size and depth. Satler told Grosse Pointe News that Osius can't host the Lakefront Swimming Association finals because its lanes are too short, and it can't use starting blocks because it isn't deep enough. That explains most of the new design.
What goes in its place
The plans described in September 2026 call for:
- Olympic-standard 25-meter lanes
- A recreational diving area
- A multispeed lazy river
- A fenced children's pool
- A community center with a 2,236-square-foot second floor, including a food-prep and warming area
The longer lanes and deeper water fix the two problems that kept Osius off the meet schedule. The second floor gives the park a use beyond swim season. The campaign materials describe it as space for family gatherings, game nights, yoga and educational presentations. An earlier design plan, reported in October 2025, had the upper floor seating 96 people and available to reserve for events, with a food warming area but no stove. The ground floor would hold offices, storage, restrooms, showers and a concession stand.
The design team is PARTNERS in Architecture with Baruzzini Aquatics. City council approved up to $95,000 in September 2025 for the second phase of design. The old clubhouse can't stay, because the new pool's layout doesn't leave room for it.
Two pools, two years, similar price tags
The Farms is one season ahead on the same kind of project, and the numbers line up closely.
| Pier Park, Grosse Pointe Farms | Osius Park, Grosse Pointe Shores | |
|---|---|---|
| Project cost | $14.798 million | $14 million, as of September 2026 |
| Private money | $4 million gift from the Grosse Pointe Farms Foundation | About $4 million donated or committed, as of September 2026 |
| Remainder | General obligation bonds | Notice of intent approved to issue up to $10 million in limited-tax general obligation bonds |
| What's being built | Competition pool with diving board, zero-depth recreational pool, larger tot pool, splash pad, new two-story bathhouse | 25-meter lanes, diving area, lazy river, fenced children's pool, two-story community center |
| Status | Construction began spring 2026 | Bathhouse deconstruction began August 2026 |
The Shores' price has gone up as the design developed. In October 2025, the estimate was close to $11 million: $1.3 million for demolition, $3.4 million for the pool and $5.2 million for the community center, plus a 10 percent contingency. By September 2026 the total was $14 million.
Who's paying for the Shores pool
The project began with a single gift. In late 2023, the city received about $1.2 million from the estate of Carole Ann Williams, whose father, Jack G. Williams, was mayor of the Shores from 1954 to 1964. Her gift has to be spent on improvements at Osius Park.
The Grosse Pointe Shores Improvement Foundation has committed to raising $1 million of the total, and city employees hand-delivered campaign packets to every household. Gifts can be paid over time. Donors giving between $250,000 and $2 million can get naming rights, and Satler told Grosse Pointe News the campaign "will be going on over a number of years." As of the August 18 Parks Committee meeting, 45 individuals had made funding commitments. The foundation takes contributions through its online donation page, and checks are made payable to the Village.
On the public side, council voted unanimously in May to approve a notice of intent to issue up to $10 million in bonds. According to the bond counsel quoted in Grosse Pointe News, these limited-tax bonds can't be repaid by raising taxes. The notice of intent is the first step, not a completed bond sale.
Summer 2027, and what's still being worked out
This is the part Shores families will feel most directly. In the September 15 council minutes, City Manager Steve Poloni referred to "next year's pool closure." He said meetings with Grosse Pointe Farms had already happened, and talks with Grosse Pointe Woods and the school district about using their facilities were coming up.
Here's where the arrangement stood as of this fall:
- Grosse Pointe Farms agreed to share its pool while the Shores builds, according to the August 18 Parks Committee minutes.
- Grosse Pointe Woods was being approached for a similar agreement.
- Access terms, meaning who qualifies, which passes work, any fees and which hours, have not been published. The September minutes said logistics were still being finalized.
The Farms deal depends on Pier Park opening on schedule. In August, City Manager Shane Reeside told C&G Newspapers that the project was on schedule and on budget. Parks and Recreation Director Chris Galatis put the goal plainly: "The goal is to be open next Memorial Day weekend." The paper also noted that weather and other snags can shift construction schedules.
The deal is meant to run both ways. When Poloni first discussed it in 2025, he said he had talked with managers in the other Pointes, especially the Farms, about letting Shores residents use their pools during construction, and that the Shores would return the favor once its new pool is built.
The Shores hasn't announced an opening date for the new Osius pool. The 2025 plan laid out the order of work: demolition in the fall, the pool the following spring, and the community center that fall. Until the city publishes a firm date and the summer access rules, the Shores council and Parks Committee minutes on gpshoresmi.gov are the best place to watch for both.
The Osius rebuild will change what the lakefront looks like for the next couple of seasons, and that's a fair question to ask about any home near the water. If you're thinking about a move in the Shores and want a sense of how the work at Osius Park fits into your timing, Shana Sine Cameron is glad to talk it through. Schedule Your Free Consultation.
