YWCA begins site work on the future Northwest YMCA in Lysander

LYSANDER — After more than a decade of planning, the YMCA of Greater Syracuse on May 22 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 planning for the project started in 1999, says Cynthia Dowd Greene, chair of the Northwest Family YMCA board of managers, a group of volunteers interested in the project.

“Because the Y is a charitable organization, the community builds the Y. And when you have a $20 million project, it takes a long time,” Dowd says.

She spoke with the Business Journal News Network on May 29.

The group originally planned to build a smaller facility, she says.

Then, the East Area YMCA in Fayetteville opened in 2004 and attracted members. The volunteer group also noticed the activity at the North Area YMCA on Wetzel Road in Clay, which can be “crowded,” Greene says.

Based on those factors, the group decided to ask the board at the YMCA of Greater Syracuse if it could pursue construction of a bigger facility.

“There’s been market-research studies done to confirm that there is indeed a need [for the Y in Lysander],” according to Greene.

The town of Lysander approved a building permit for the project on May 6 and approved the site plan earlier this year, she adds.

The YMCA will use a combination of grants, a public campaign, and a loan to cover the total project cost.

So far, organizers have raised about half of the $6 million they’re pursuing, but if that amount exceeds $6 million, it’ll simply reduce the financing needed for the project.

“We want to minimize [the amount of] the loan,” she says.

M&T Bank will provide the loan, Greene says, declining to reveal the amount the group is pursuing.

The YMCA will launch it community campaign “later this summer,” she says.

Hueber-Breuer Construction Co., Inc. is serving as the construction manager on the project, she says. VIP Structures is handling the structure work on the building.

Syracuse–based Sack & Associates Consulting Engineers, PLLC and Albany–based CHA Consulting (previously known as Clough, Harbor & Associates LLP), which operates a Syracuse office, are providing engineering services for the project.

Syracuse–based Robertson Strong and Apgar Architects is the project designer, she says.

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

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, according to a YMCA news release.

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, the YMCA said.

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 during the groundbreaking, according to the YMCA 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