Myrtha Pools, a global leader in stainless-steel pool technology, is expanding its national partnership with Landmark Aquatic, the nation’s largest platform of founder-owned commercial aquatics firms. Together, they’ll help park and recreation departments, universities and commercial clients build and renovate more smoothly, control costs more tightly, and get facilities built to last decades, not years.
“A partnership like this pairs global technology with a scaled national builder, and that changes what's possible for the clients investing in these facilities,” says Jen Gerber, Myrtha's director of strategic partnerships. “Municipalities and universities want an established relationship, not a group of subcontractors meeting for the first time on their job. We've already worked out how we communicate and how we build, so the client gets the best value instead of absorbing the risk.”
Decades of Roots, One National Platform
Landmark Aquatic's roots trace back to 1967, when its oldest legacy company, Westport Pools, began serving Midwest communities. In September 2023, that legacy — built alongside sister companies CEM, Spear Corp., Progressive Commercial Aquatics and Commercial Swim — coalesced into Landmark Aquatic, with a mission to give clients nationwide access to sophisticated, end-to-end aquatic solutions from a single trusted partner.
“Construction is in our DNA,” says Landmark Aquatic’s Executive Chairman J. Ryan Casserly. “Our legacy companies built strong construction and renovation practices long before Landmark existed. Rather than reinvent that expertise, we've amplified it into a national delivery capability that brings the same hands-on quality to a much broader footprint.”
That scale is central to the Myrtha relationship, which began more than 20 years ago through legacy firm CEM and has grown to more than 250 Myrtha installations completed nationwide. “It transfers the knowledge from the markets where we've built the most and pairs it with the muscle to take on multiple projects at once across the country,” Gerber says. “As Landmark grows, we grow with them — it's the convenience of one partner willing to build almost anywhere.”
Technology That Lowers the Cost of Ownership
At the center of the partnership is Myrtha's stainless-steel and RenovAction system, an alternative to traditional shotcrete-and-plaster construction built for precision, construction speed and flexibility. “RenovAction lets owners take advantage of an existing pool shell and renovate it, reducing construction cost and ending up with essentially a brand-new, warrantied pool at a fraction of the cost of building new,” Gerber says.
Landmark supplies the field execution behind that engineering: its teams have built more than 500 Myrtha pools in 25 years — more than any installer in the world. Landmark's design and construction arms both work directly with Myrtha's engineering team from lead development through delivery, and field feedback flows back into product development. “It's not just us innovating the product — their experience helps us innovate it,” Gerber adds.
Proof Over Decades: Deseret Peak Aquatic Complex
The Deseret Peak Aquatic Complex in Tooele, Utah, shows the payoff over time. Its original mid-1990s shotcrete pool cracked due to site soil conditions; a 2007 Myrtha RenoVaction install extended its life another 17 years. In 2024, Landmark and Myrtha fully replaced the structure with a new Myrtha system — and the community added a second Myrtha pool.
“This illustrates how Myrtha can both renovate and revive older pool systems with underlying issues and also create new and beautiful systems,” says Tim Garner, Landmark Aquatic's Salt Lake City general manager. Myrtha backs that longevity with a dedicated Myrtha Legacy program that stays engaged with facilities long after ribbon-cutting to support service, upgrades and new programming.
Plenty of aging facilities across the country are still waiting for that kind of long-term fix. “There are pools from just about every generation still in operation — some kept alive by great staff, others by a constant string of minor, band-aid fixes,” says Mike Mintenko, director of sales for Myrtha Pools. “Regardless of the age of your pool, if you feel it has exceeded its useful life, it’s time to think about a better long-term solution.”
Answering an Industry Under Cost Pressure
Both companies point to the same industry pressures behind the deepened partnership: rising construction costs, a shift toward multi-purpose, multi-generational aquatic spaces, and growing owner focus on lifecycle cost over up-front price. “Clients understand they're looking for best value, not just the cheapest price,” Gerber says. “Myrtha's modular technology can be shaped into any type of pool, new or renovated, which helps owners build flexible facilities without blowing the budget.”
Mintenko said those pressures aren’t going away. “Costs are increasing across the board, and I don’t see a world where things all of a sudden get cheaper,” he says. “Knowing that, as an industry we should be creating aquatic spaces that are multi-purpose, multi-functional and multi-generational, rather than trying to build multiple pools. Finding flexible, adaptable solutions is what ultimately stretches the budget. People know Myrtha for competition pools, but we also have strong solutions in the leisure market, so whatever a project calls for, new construction or renovation, we can provide an answer.”
That, he says, requires a change in mindset from owners. “Publicly owned facilities are realizing they’re too poor to be cheap — that’s what every school district and municipality should be saying,” Mintenko says. “Choose the best-quality product that is going to last the longest and save money on the maintenance side, then find the team that will deliver a facility with a lower cost of ownership over its entire life.”
“Our philosophy is simple: create a customer for life,” adds Casserly. “We show up, walk the journey alongside our clients, and adjust as needed to earn that long-term relationship.”
Looking Ahead
This partnership has several major builds underway, including a large aquatic center in Fort Collins, Colorado (led by Landmark's Denver and Houston offices). The relationship between Landmark and Myrtha runs deep and as a result, Landmark Aquatic was recently given an award at the Myrtha Momentum event for “Successful Collaboration on the Most Myrtha Pools Installed Worldwide." Collectively there is a great deal of pride about what the two companies have already achieved together and both know that the best is yet to come. Asked to sum up what the partnership means for the future of U.S. aquatics in one sentence, the answer from both sides was the same: more, better pools across the country.
