The Y progresses in $3.2 million improvement project

• YMCA

An area that once housed three raquetball courts now is the home of the cardio workout area at the Y. Herald photo by John Stennes.
• Josh Wolfe

Josh Wolfe works out in the Grand Forks YMCA's new weight training room Tuesday. The $3.2 million renovation project has repurposed three raquet ball courts into weight training area. Herald photo by John Stennes.

Talk about it

The Y in Grand Forks is in the middle of a $3.2 million improvement project that has added new racquetball courts, weight training space and group exercise rooms and covered the costs of keeping a 43-year-old building able to meet the changing needs of a changing clientele.

“There are always surprises in an old building,” said CEO Debbie Thompson.

The Y announced the project last summer. Since then, it has added new exercise areas, repainted old areas and made necessary updates to its heating and cooling system, sprinkler system and lighting system.

“Large chunks of that were things people can’t see,” Thompson said. “What’s the fun in that?”

Thompson uses the Y’s swimming pool as an example of the hard-to-see improvements. It looks the same as it did before the renovation but the area has a new mechanical system for regulating the facility’s water and air temperature and quality.

New spaces

But the Y’s renovations also include things that are visible to members and reflect changing priorities of the center and its users.

The first new addition was new racquetball courts in a part of the building that used to house group exercise areas and, before that, the old racquetball courts.

Thompson said the Y added six courts several years ago during an upswing in the sport’s popularity but later decided to scale back that part of the facility as demand for courts waned.

In the meantime, the Y has been converting its racquetball area to other uses. In 2002, it used a grant to convert three courts into an exercise area by adding a floor to divide the court space into an upper and a lower level.

The current renovation project converts the rest of the old racquetball area into a space for the Y’s weight training equipment. The lower level of that space will be used as group exercise space for special programs, including those for children and senior citizens.

“Everything just goes in cycles,” Thompson said on the challenges of keeping up with the changing demands of the Y’s members.

The next steps for the renovation project will be a remodeled lobby area meant to turn the space into more of a social place for members, such as parents bringing children to and from youth programs. Plans for the redesigned space also include a coffee shop and snack area.

“It’s kind of a gathering place,” Thompson said. “We want to create a nice comfortable seating area for people lounge in.”

Other planned or ongoing projects will improve the basketball court, locker rooms, child care areas and meeting rooms.

New equipment

Aside from the $3.4 million in improvements to the building, the Y has a fundraising goal of $375,000 to pay for new equipment for its cardio and weight training areas. The lifespan of much of the equipment is three to five years, Thompson said, but the Y has stretched out the use of its machines to up to nine years.

“We eke every last inch of life out of them that we can,” she said.

Thompson said the construction of the new Choice Health and Fitness Center in south Grand Forks will complement the Y’s services. The new center will provide similar services in a part of the city where more people live, something the Y’s board probably would have pursued if the Park District had not developed the Choice center.

“It’s just increasing the flexibility for people and giving them more options,” Thompson said.

Even with the addition of the new center, the Y has the potential to increase its membership. The Grand Forks area has a lower level of enrollment in health centers compared to other cities in the state.

“We’re still not scratching the surface,” Thompson said.

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