Toledo officials will break ground next month on a new YMCA facility near downtown Toledo — a transformative project for the neighborhood, but also more costly than previously projected.
Officials plan to break ground Sept. 12 on the proposed new Wayman Palmer YMCA, which will be constructed on Bancroft Street one block north of the 2053 N. 14th St. facility.
The 40,000-square-foot building will cost $28.7 million, which is about $3 million more than previously projected, city council members were told recently at a committee meeting.
Officials expected this and the city of Toledo is not being asked to pay any more than they have already allocated, said Rosalyn Clemens, Toledo's Department of Neighborhoods director.
Through a formal partnership between the city of Toledo and the YMCA of Greater Toledo, the city proposed allocating $19 million in federal relief money to fund the project.
Other funding sources include $3 million from the YMCA and $1.7 million in Community Development Block Grants. The city also aims to secure $5 million from a New Markets Tax Credit Equity program, a federal tax incentive program for economically distressed communities.
‘We’ve got a two-year window to do that, and we’ve got CBGD dollars that we want to put into the project to keep the project moving,” Ms. Clemens said. “The contractor is ready to go, we’re ready to go, we’ve got money to start the project and the other pieces will fall into place.”
More than six years in the making, the YMCA project has included market, feasibility, and needs assessment studies. The new facility will feature an 8,000-square-foot gym, an indoor pool, fitness center, kids zone, and two multipurpose rooms that can be used for exercise classes or programs such as cooking classes.
Community partners will have a presence at the new YMCA. Those include Toledo Public Schools, which will operate a Head Start program; the Northwest Ohio Food Bank; and RFS Behavioral Health, a local youth-based nonprofit providing mental health services and programming.
When the new YMCA opens in January, 2025, the current facility will be demolished to make way for the new Inez Nash Park, which will feature swings, a climbing structure, naturalized playscapes, fitness equipment for children and adults, and a picnic shelter.
For Councilman Tiffany Preston Whitman, one of the most important aspects of the projects is the significant reinvestment in the community.
“I see this as an anchor project that is going to spur future development and really to be able to serve youth and their families in the area,” Ms. Preston Whitman said. “This is big.”
First Published August 13, 2023, 7:31 p.m.