Lakewood Ranch Y starts expansion

LAKEWOOD RANCH — To better accommodate existing members and prepare for growth, the Lakewood Ranch YMCA has broken ground on a 13,000-square-foot expansion.

YMCA officials hope to have the addition, as well as modifications to the existing Lakewood Ranch YMCA facility, completed by mid-April 2012.

“The main thrust is to better serve the people we have,” Manatee County YMCA CEO Sean Allison said. “We feel like a lot of folks who have joined and left in the last three years will come back. We also recognize what’s going on around us (with development). We looked at making sure we had some additional capacity.”

The 27,000-square-foot Ranch YMCA location opened in March 2003 with about 500 memberships and programs including youth sports, swim lessons, aerobics and dance classes. However, within two years, the number of memberships had more than doubled. By 2009, the facility surpassed its capacity of 2,200 memberships.

“It just got too crowded,” Allison said. “We knew we had to improve the capacity to serve children. We also saw a huge need for fitness-and-wellness expansions for adults.”

Contractors will start by constructing a new 13,000-square-foot building immediately north of the existing building. Once completed, the new structure will house the cardio room, as well as a yoga and dance studio, free weights and a room for a cycle/spin class, among other areas.

The existing building will be reconfigured to better utilize space and will include a teen center, aerobic studio, conference room and a youth center with a 25-foot-tall rock-climbing wall. The open seating area behind the current reception desk will be eliminated as part of the reconfiguration.

“We’re adding 6,000 square feet internally,” Allison said. “We’ve got a lot of wasted space (now).”
Allison said YMCA members will see no disruption to services until January, at which time renovations to the existing building will begin.

“Some aerobics classes and some kids services (will be displaced), but we will make more use of the gym at that time,” Allison said. “We (have) a curtain to divide the space. It’ll only be for a few months.”

YMCA officials hope to have the renovations completed by Healthy Kids Day in mid-April.

The YMCA launched a capital campaign for the program about a month ago and is hoping to raise about $700,000 to equip the interior of the building. In total, the project will cost about $2 million with one-third of funding coming from monies the Y has put aside for the project and another one-third from the capital campaign. Allison said the remaining portion will be paid off over time, and any monies above the Y’s fundraising goal will go toward reducing that expense.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].