Swim University coming to Spring Hill Mall

A swimming pool in a shopping mall?

No, we’re not talking about Minnesota’s Mall of America. We’re talking Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee.

Swim University Swim School, a Phoenix-based company that builds pools and offers year-round swimming lessons to kids, has plans to do just that at the mall, officials announced this week.

Swim-U’s facility — which would be built in the 4,800-square-foot space across from Barnes & Noble — will include an in-ground 1,200-square-foot pool, a retail store, a party room, a changing area and a viewing area for parents, complete with Wi-Fi and TVs. Construction is already under way.

Mall management is excited about the venture and says Swim-U is consistent with its pledge to offer family entertainment in a safe shopping environment.

“It’s a great tie-in with the community,” General Manager Amy Prew said.

This marks the first time Swim-U has dipped its toe into the Chicago area. It runs four others in Kansas, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina with 40 total employees.

“The Chicago suburban market is pretty underserved as far as year-round swim schools for kids go,” Swim-U owner and founder Christopher Haws said. “And we like the idea of being inside a mall where people in the area who have children, which is what we’re after, are already familiar to the location, comfortable with the community and the drive. It’s easy to explain.”

For $79 a month, children get one, 30-minute lesson a week. Lessons are four students per teacher and are for kids ranging in age from six months to 12 years. Private lessons also will be available. The hope is that the lessons bring new children and adults to the mall and that they stick around afterward to shop.

The entire project will cost about $400,000 and the mall has agreed to pay $350,000, Haws said. Swim-U is only responsible for buying $50,000 in furniture, fixtures and equipment, he added.

It’s too early to tell what impact, if any, Swim-U will have on the Dundee Township Park District, which runs one indoor pool at Route 68 and Route 25, said Jim Miller, the district’s deputy director, adding that Swim-U appears to be targeting a select group of people.

“It’s not something that’s going to be for older youth or adults,” Miller said. “Anything that’s going to get people to recreate and do healthy activities in our community is a good thing, and I know that the mall has been struggling for some time. Certainly, they need something to help them out over there.”