The new pool and poolhouse at the former Riverview Towers. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Three years after their swimming pool mysteriously popped out of the ground, residents of a Red Bank riverfront highrise got a closeup look at its $3.5 million replacement Monday night.

The 53-year-old Riverview Towers, at 28 Riverside Avenue, has also been rebranded as the Navesink Riverside Residences and Marina.

The new poolhouse includes an enclosed lounge and rooftop deck, Below, architect Mike Simpson, of S.O.M.E. Architects. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

As reported by redbankgreen in 2019, the pool at the co-op property was nearly empty in preparation for its annual cleaning on May 15, 2018, when it suddenly rose several feet, breaking the concrete deck that surrounded it.

The cause, according to a now-settled lawsuit, was a valve mistakenly left open inside the building that filled the bulkhead surrounding the pool with water.

Over 24 days, some 5.8 million gallons poured in, lifting the pool and prompting a condemnation by borough inspectors, court documents said.

After getting over the shock of a phone call informing him that “the pool has popped out of the ground,” Michael Collins said he and other members of the co-op’s board of directors set about having it rebuilt.

“We saw it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the building in a meaningful way and create a new amenity for shareholders,” said Collins, now the board’s president.

On Monday night, residents gathered for a wine-and-cheese opening of the rebuilt amenity, designed by architect Mike Simpson, of borough-based S.O.M.E. Architects.

The new poolhouse, featuring ample windows that frame a panoramic view of the Navesink River, replaces a 50-year-old structure that “was little more than a gable-roofed shed,” Simpson told redbankgreen Monday, as residents toured the structure.

Given the view, “it made perfect sense” to add the facility, which also has a rooftop deck, he said.

A marina at the end of the bulkhead that was closed during the pool rebuilding has also reopened.

Kathy Reed was in the process of closing on her eighth-floor unit when the pool went pop, which meant her monthly costs were likely to rise, too.

“But it wasn’t a dealbreaker,” she told redbankgreen. “This is what I wanted to do.”

The 12-story, 150-unit building opened in 1968, and remain’s the borough’s tallest structure.

Mayor Pasquale Menna, a former building resident, toasted the property as the “pièce de résistance” of Red Bank.