diff --git a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
index 1d407a29bc..22cc1c2edc 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
@@ -276,6 +276,8 @@ fn start_pageserver(conf: &'static PageServerConf, daemonize: bool) -> Result<()
 
     let remote_index = tenant_mgr::init_tenant_mgr(conf)?;
 
+    pageserver::tenant_threads::init_tenant_task_pool()?;
+
     // Spawn a new thread for the http endpoint
     // bind before launching separate thread so the error reported before startup exits
     let auth_cloned = auth.clone();
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant_mgr.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant_mgr.rs
index c48b021d1f..f69f9cfe07 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant_mgr.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant_mgr.rs
@@ -347,27 +347,7 @@ pub fn set_tenant_state(tenant_id: ZTenantId, new_state: TenantState) -> anyhow:
             }
             compactor_spawn_result?;
 
-            let gc_spawn_result = thread_mgr::spawn(
-                ThreadKind::GarbageCollector,
-                Some(tenant_id),
-                None,
-                "GC thread",
-                false,
-                move || crate::tenant_threads::gc_loop(tenant_id),
-            )
-            .map(|_thread_id| ()) // update the `Result::Ok` type to match the outer function's return signature
-            .with_context(|| format!("Failed to launch GC thread for tenant {tenant_id}"));
-
-            if let Err(e) = &gc_spawn_result {
-                let mut m = tenants_state::write_tenants();
-                m.get_mut(&tenant_id)
-                    .with_context(|| format!("Tenant not found for id {tenant_id}"))?
-                    .state = old_state;
-                drop(m);
-                error!("Failed to start GC thread for tenant {tenant_id}, stopping its checkpointer thread: {e:?}");
-                thread_mgr::shutdown_threads(Some(ThreadKind::Compactor), Some(tenant_id), None);
-                return gc_spawn_result;
-            }
+            crate::tenant_threads::start_gc_loop(tenant_id)?;
         }
         (TenantState::Idle, TenantState::Stopping) => {
             info!("stopping idle tenant {tenant_id}");
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant_threads.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant_threads.rs
index 2268846d1e..7f44552904 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant_threads.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant_threads.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,16 @@
 //! This module contains functions to serve per-tenant background processes,
 //! such as compaction and GC
+use std::str::FromStr;
+
 use crate::repository::Repository;
-use crate::tenant_mgr;
 use crate::tenant_mgr::TenantState;
+use crate::thread_mgr::ThreadKind;
+use crate::{tenant_mgr, thread_mgr};
 use anyhow::Result;
-use tokio::task::JoinError;
-use std::time::Duration;
+use futures::stream::FuturesUnordered;
+use futures::StreamExt;
+use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
+use tokio::sync::mpsc::{self, Sender};
 use tracing::*;
 use utils::zid::ZTenantId;
 
@@ -45,6 +50,58 @@ fn compact_loop_ext(tenantid: ZTenantId) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+static START_GC_LOOP: OnceCell<Sender<ZTenantId>> = OnceCell::new();
+
+pub fn start_gc_loop(tenantid: ZTenantId) -> Result<()> {
+    START_GC_LOOP
+        .get()
+        .unwrap()
+        .blocking_send(tenantid)
+        .unwrap();
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+pub fn init_tenant_task_pool() -> Result<()> {
+    let runtime = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+        .thread_name("tenant-task-worker")
+        .worker_threads(40)
+        .max_blocking_threads(100)
+        .enable_all()
+        .build()?;
+
+    let (send, mut recv) = mpsc::channel::<ZTenantId>(100);
+    START_GC_LOOP.set(send).unwrap();
+
+    thread_mgr::spawn(
+        ThreadKind::WalReceiverManager, // TODO
+        None,
+        None,
+        "WAL receiver manager main thread",
+        true,
+        move || {
+            runtime.block_on(async move {
+                let mut futures = FuturesUnordered::new();
+                loop {
+                    tokio::select! {
+                        _ = thread_mgr::shutdown_watcher() => break,
+                        tenantid = recv.recv() => {
+                            let tenantid = tenantid.unwrap();
+                            // Await concurrently with all other futures
+                            futures.push(tokio::spawn(gc_loop(tenantid)));
+                        },
+                        _ = futures.next() => {
+                            // Do nothing. We're waiting on them just to make progress
+                        },
+                    }
+                }
+            });
+            Ok(())
+        },
+    )?;
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 ///
 /// GC thread's main loop
 ///
@@ -63,10 +120,11 @@ pub async fn gc_loop(tenantid: ZTenantId) -> Result<()> {
         if gc_horizon > 0 {
             let gc_result = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
                 repo.gc_iteration(None, gc_horizon, repo.get_pitr_interval(), false)
-            }).await;
+            })
+            .await;
 
             match gc_result {
-                Ok(Ok(gc_result)) => {
+                Ok(Ok(_gc_result)) => {
                     // Gc success, do nothing
                 }
                 Ok(Err(e)) => {
@@ -80,7 +138,7 @@ pub async fn gc_loop(tenantid: ZTenantId) -> Result<()> {
             }
         }
 
-        tokio::time::sleep(gc_period);
+        tokio::time::sleep(gc_period).await;
     }
     trace!(
         "GC loop stopped for tenant {} state is {:?}",