Rumsey Pool's Closure Lands Hardest on Capitol Hill's Weekends

If you swam laps on a Saturday morning, where do you go now that Rumsey has closed? The William H. Rumsey Aquatic Center at 635 North Carolina Ave. SE closed on Oct. 1, 2026, and DC is tearing it down and building a new one. The Department of General Services lists the project's end date as "Early 2028." That leaves roughly a year and a half of routines to rebuild.

Weekday swimmers have options. Weekends get harder in two ways. The two pools DPR suggested for lap swimmers are closed on Saturday and Sunday, and the plaza in front of Rumsey, where weekend vendors set up next to Eastern Market, is about to become part of the job site.

The Lap-Swim Substitutes Keep Weekday Hours Only

At a Sept. 22 construction meeting in Eastern Market's North Hall, DPR aquatics officials said they had sent morning and evening lap swimmers to the Ballou Senior High School Aquatic Center. Later they added Dunbar as a second school-pool option. Classes went to four other DPR facilities: Barry Farm, Joy Evans, Deanwood, and Turkey Thicket.

DPR's indoor pools page shows how differently those six pools run:

DPR's table lists building hours. It doesn't say when lap lanes are open, so check with the pool before you plan a swim around these times.

The table makes the weekend problem plain. Ballou and Dunbar, the two pools named for lap swimmers, open only on weekdays, in a two-hour morning slot and a four-hour evening slot. If Saturday or Sunday was your swim day, Barry Farm and Deanwood are the only pools on this list open both days, and neither opens before 10 a.m. On Sunday, those two are the only choices on the list.

Replacement fall classes run Oct. 13 through Nov. 6. Special registration for them opened Sept. 25. Many swimmers had little time to adjust. HillRag reported that users had about two weeks to rearrange classes and lap swims after the closure notice. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen didn't play that down at the meeting:

"I'm pretty frustrated that people only had two weeks' notice for the classes and the pool ending."

Eastern Market's Weekend Layout Is Next to Move

The pool sits next to Eastern Market, so the construction zone also covers part of the market's weekend footprint. At the Sept. 22 meeting, officials described a construction logistics plan that puts fencing around the site. It uses part of the North Carolina Avenue plaza as a laydown area and construction entrance, and it shifts the sidewalks and bike lane into the parking lane. That plan still needs DDOT approval.

Market management has explained the plan for the vendors who now set up on that plaza. At the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee meeting, chaired by Chuck Burger, Market Manager Barry Margeson said those weekend vendors will move to the North Plaza at Eastern Market once the construction fence goes up. The vendors who now use the North Plaza will move inside the North Hall. Capitol Hill Corner reported the change on Oct. 4. After the Sept. 22 meeting, officials told HillRag that most of the food-service vendors would go to the North Hall plaza. They also mentioned the 200 block of Seventh Street SE as a place for vendors who are displaced along the way. The Department of General Services will work with vendors on the moves.

None of these changes has a firm date yet. The vendor shift depends on the fence going up, and the fence plan is part of the logistics package still waiting on DDOT. If your Saturday route runs from the Rumsey plaza to the North Hall, it should look the same for now. When the fence goes up, expect the food vendors to be in front of the North Hall.

Officials also covered other nearby changes:

• Capital Bikeshare: the station stays, but it moves to the end of the parking area.
• Compost drop-off: officials said the logistics were not yet settled.
• The vendor alley: the alley beside the market is expected to stay available to vendors much as it is now. Fencing will run near the existing wall, and three Eastern Market HVAC stacks will be preserved.
• The heritage tree: the large tree near North Carolina Avenue gets a protected critical-root zone. The team has already used air spading to locate its major roots.
• Deliveries: contractors expect six on-site spaces for crews. Trucks are supposed to enter from North Carolina Avenue, unload inside the site, and leave rather than line up on the street.

Why the Wait Starts Before Demolition

You may walk past the building for weeks and see nothing happening. Christopher Dyer, DPR's community engagement manager, said the permitting clock could not start while Rumsey was still open. Officials described the order of work this way:

1. Empty the building and remove equipment.
2. Drain the pool.
3. Arrange for Pepco to cut power.
4. Apply for the raze permit, then receive it.
5. Begin demolition.

Officials expect moving out and draining to take about four to six weeks. Counted from the Oct. 1 closure, that runs to mid-November at the latest. Demolition itself should take four to five months once it begins. No one has published how long the raze permit will take, so the demolition start date is still open. Much of this early work won't show from the sidewalk. The DGS project page still lists the project status as "Planning/Design," which looks out of date now that the pool has closed. Its end date of early 2028 is the only overall completion estimate published so far.

Neighbors near C Street and North Carolina Avenue asked about rats, dust, and vibration. Project officials said pest control will begin closer to demolition, with pretreatment, sealed trash containers, and regular waste removal. Demolition will use windscreen fencing and water to control dust. Nearby properties and Eastern Market will get vibration monitoring.

What the Weekend Gets Back in 2028

When the first community meeting was held in December 2024, the $44.5 million project was planned as a modernization of the 1970 building. It has since grown into a full replacement: a two-story aquatic and community center on the same site. The design changed along the way. Water-aerobics users had complained about the depth, so the eight-lane, 25-yard lap pool will now start at three and a half feet instead of four. It will slope to five feet and then drop to 12. A separate leisure and learn-to-swim pool will run from three and a half to five feet.

The new building will also have a senior center, community rooms, a fitness room, a tech lounge, locker rooms, family restrooms, a sauna, and second-floor spaces that overlook the pool. Its masonry exterior is designed as three separate masses meant to fit the historic setting around Eastern Market. The lobby is expected to include art honoring Dr. William H. Rumsey, the former DPR director the center is named for. Dyer confirmed that the team plans to work with the Rumsey family on choosing the art. His grandson, William H. Rumsey III, attended the Sept. 22 meeting with his wife, Monique. Asked about the design, he said, "It's wonderful."

Allen told the room that the project is "a heck of a lot better than it was in December 2024" because residents kept showing up. DPR expected perhaps 50 people at that first meeting and got about 150. He also called on DGS and DPR to name a clear public point of contact and give regular updates once construction begins. For now, the contact is DPR's Christopher Dyer at [email protected]. Jeffrey Policicchio of Hess Construction is the project's community liaison and has said he plans to move within walking distance of the site. HillRag's full Sept. 22 report has the design renderings and the construction logistics drawings.

I've watched the blocks around Eastern Market adjust to plenty of changes over the years, and this one will play out over many months. If you live near North Carolina Avenue and want to know how a long public construction project next door tends to affect a home sale or a renovation plan, Donald Denton is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.