Northland Swim Club to close permanently after nearly six decades

The Northland Swim Club has announced plans to close its pool permanently on Sept. 3 due to mounting debt.

The NSC, which operated for 59 years , said it would likely end the season in the red and close due to failure to raise $15,000 for this year. According to an announcement on its website, the NSC said it "didn't come close to hitting that mark," yet still opened for this summer.

Representatives from the club were not immediately available for comment.

NSC said it will not take money for the 2025 season and plans to dissolve the swim club in the fall of this year, but said that it hopes to get a large lump sum donation of $50,000 between now and Oct. 31 to reopen next year.

"If you were ever going to consider a large gift to the pool, now is the last chance to do so," the club said.

The NSC said it relied largely on donations from swim teams that use the pool during nonoperating hours and have struggled to obtain grants.

Membership has also continued to decline as the costs of water, electricity and chlorine increase. This year, the pool received $31,000 in membership revenue, which is $5,000 less than last year, according to the statement.

Northland Swim Club sold land where pool is located in 2018

The NSC announcement said the nonprofit sold the land in 2018 to the for-profit In-Sight Tech LLC. The swim club pays In-Sight Tech $15,500 a year in rent. The sale also meant the club lost a source of income that came from off-season parking lot rental that was used as reserve funds.

A deed dated Dec. 6, 2018, filed with the Franklin County Recorder's Office, shows the nonprofit sold its land to the for-profit In-Sight Tech LLC for $10. Then-NSC president Rick Sargent signed the transfer.

"The sale of the pool real estate to Insight Tech LLC in 2018 resulted in NSC clearing its debt at that time, but getting $0 in cash at the time of closing," NSC said in its announcement. "The way the deal was structured, a sort of quasi land contract/ leaseback situation, also did not enable NSC to build any kind of reserve funds. Debt started re-accumulating almost immediately."

The club’s 2023 tax forms for the nonprofit show that in 2023, the swim club ended the year about $20,000 in debt. It listed $7,338 in cash on hand at the year's end with no other assets, including land or buildings.

Similar records, from 2017, a year before the land sale, show the club started the year with over $190,000 in debt and ended it with about $68,000 in debts owed. It also listed that the club-owned land value at that time at $193,747.

What is the Northland Swimming Pool?

The privately owned Olympic-sized pool is nestled in the Woodward Park subdivision on 3.5 acres at 5006 Almont Drive. The pool saw an average of 200 to 250 swimmers a day .

In previous years, the pool has faced challenges with being unable to remain open for a full season during COVID-19 and the threat of early closure due to a lifeguard shortage .

ABayo@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Northland Swim Club to close permanently after nearly six decades