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On hot summer days more than 60 years ago, nearly 6,000 people would come out to McCarren Park Pool, to cool off in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint recreational facility. The city wants to bring back those glory days.

The goal is to reopen the pool and provide a year-round recreation center, while preserving the existing landmark buildings and their unique archways.

"The brickwork is going to be replaced. It'll be brick that matches exactly how it is now," explained Martin Maher of the Parks Department.

The pool will not be as large as the original. Instead, it will be reconfigured to a U-shaped design accommodating 1,500 people. The middle will be a beach area in the summer and turn into an ice staking rink in the winter. Outdoor pavilions will be added on site to serve as changing stations.

"There are skylights that allow some lights to come down and filter through, and then a ring of lockers that run around the interior," said architect Scott Demel, with Rogers Marvel Architects.

The reuse of the current buildings includes a recreation center and multipurpose community meeting rooms.

Many of the ideas for the renovation came from the community. In 2007, the city held a design workshop which allowed residents to weigh in on the project. While ideas were plentiful, the city's budget for the project, at $50 million, did not allow for everything.

"We tried very, very hard to keep the diving pool in. It was in numerous iterations of our plan, but when we kept crunching the numbers, it was just too expensive," said Maher.

Still, many residents said they were happy with the plans presented.

"Nobody ever thought it would really happen in our lifetime, because it has been a 20-year fight," said Williamsburg resident Phyllis Yampolsky.

It was during the fiscal crisis in the 1970s that the pool fell into disrepair. It was eventually shut down in 1983 to be fixed, but the repairs never happened.

"I think this is what we need to unite the community, bring the community together," said Leonides Reyes, another local resident. "I think this is what the pool's going to do."

Part of what still needs to be done is choosing a company to do the work. The Parks Department says once construction starts on McCarren Park Pool, the project would take about two years to complete.