YMCA begins site work on the future Northwest YMCA in Lysander

LYSANDER — The YMCA today started site work on the $20 million, 100,000-square-foot Northwest Family YMCA at 8040 River Road in Lysander. 

Local leaders, donors, and other key supporters gathered at Timber Banks Golf Clubhouse at 3536 Timber Banks Parkway for a groundbreaking ceremony, the YMCA said in a news release.

The group gathered at Timber Banks to enjoy a cake decorated with the site plan for the new YMCA. The organization opted for the cake option, saying the ground was “still too soggy” for a traditional, shovel-into-soil ceremony.

Crews will build the new YMCA on land just south of Timber Banks, and excavators have already started work on part of the entry road, the organization said.

Pooler Enterprises, the developer of Timber Banks, donated the 11-acre parcel, it added.

“About a year from now, God willing, you will all join us for the grand opening ribbon cutting,” Cindy Dowd Greene, chair of the Northwest Family YMCA board of managers, said in the news release.

Volunteer leaders unveiled plans for the new YMCA and explained how architects designed features to meet community needs. The event also included the announcement of several new commitments of financial support for the project.  

The new facility will include an aquatic center with a family pool, a lap pool, and a therapy pool; three basketball courts and multiple smaller courts; an indoor track; a turf practice field; a teen/tween center that will double as a gathering place for seniors during daytime hours.

In addition, it’ll include an arts and music center; a bicycling studio; a wellness center dedicated to helping cancer survivors recover; and areas for group exercise, weightlifting, and cardiovascular exercise, according to the YMCA news release.

The new YMCA will employ more than 200 people, providing “great first jobs to thousands of local teenagers,” New York State Senator John DeFrancisco (R–Syracuse) said in his remarks, according to the news release.

For those reasons and others, the Central New York regional economic-development council awarded the project a $985,000 construction grant, DeFrancisco added.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will also provide energy incentives, the lawmaker added.

DeFrancisco also secured a $200,000 state planning grant “several years ago” and helped with two additional awards, the YMCA said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com