Downtown YMCA starts remodel

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Executives at the downtown Springfield Family YMCA are hoping renovations will help the facility climb to new heights.|ret||ret||tab|

Demolition crews with R.E. Smith Construction are tearing down the interior of the top two floors of the G. Pearson Ward branch in the first stage of a more than $2 million renovation. |ret||ret||tab|

The facility, constructed in 1913 for $80,000 at 417 S. Jefferson Ave., will be renovated by September 2003, said new Chief Executive Officer Brad Toft, who replaced Jim Weaton July 1. Weaton left in April for the YMCA national office in Chicago.|ret||ret||tab|

Anchoring the changes will be a three-story climbing wall, beginning on the second floor.|ret||ret||tab|

Sapp Design Associates Architects is drawing the plans. President Michael Sapp said the design is tailored for more program and fitness space with an emphasis on young adults and children.|ret||ret||tab|

"There is a need in this area of town for additional youth programs," said Casey Holck, director of program and facility development for the Y. "That will be a focus for us."|ret||ret||tab|

Holck said another reason for renovations is to coincide with the redevelopment downtown and in Jordan Valley Park. He said the YMCA is trying to create a family center with the surrounding neighborhoods and schools.|ret||ret||tab|

Primary alterations will take place on the top two floors, which previously allowed overnight stays for men but have been vacant for several years.|ret||ret||tab|

Additions include a women's fitness center in the basement; a youth and teen area with lounge space on the second floor; a Stairmaster and cycling area, adult fitness classrooms and a cardio theater on the third floor; and new offices on the fourth floor.|ret||ret||tab|

The only change to the first floor, Holck said, is the elimination of the running track above the first gymnasium. A new track will be constructed on the third floor.|ret||ret||tab|

Most of the excitement surrounds the glass-encased climbing wall. "It's really going to set us apart because our south-side facility doesn't have this," Holck said. |ret||ret||tab|

The Pat Jones Family YMCA on the south side was built in 1989 after Dallas Cowboy's owner and Springfield native Jerry Jones donated the land. The facility was named after his father.|ret||ret||tab|

Sapp said the climbing wall will be a first for a Springfield community center.|ret||ret||tab|

The project will go to bid by mid-August. Toft said funding for the Ward branch renovations will be raised in a capital campaign to be held next year.|ret||ret||tab|

The last renovations at the downtown YMCA occurred in 1997 and cost $700,000.|ret||ret||tab|

"Since we're a community service organization, we respond to the community's needs," Toft said. "This facility has evolved in a number of different ways simply because that's what the community wants from us."|ret||ret||tab|

Additional programs will be devised with input from YMCA members, he said.|ret||ret||tab|

The YMCA also plans for two new facilities in the Springfield area. Branson and Bolivar have each raised the necessary $200,000 for a YMCA charter, Toft said. He added that those funds will cover operational expenses for the first two years. |ret||ret||tab|

"We're hoping to develop (new) facilities in each one of those communities sometime in the next two years," Toft said. "And each community is responsible to raise the capital dollars through campaigns to build." |ret||ret||tab|

Toft said both facilities are in the planning stages.|ret||ret||tab|

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