ASHLAND — The Ashland Family YMCA is looking to grow.
The 1950s facility along Miller Street in Ashland is on its way to raising $3.6 million that will go toward indoor renovations, a revamped parking lot and a 8,900 square-foot gymnastics gymnasium.
The campaign, dubbed “Building a Better Y For Our Community,” kicked off in mid-November and has generated $1.1 million in lead commitments, along with $170,000 from the YMCA Board and Campaign Committee.
Ashland residents Bob and Janet Archer have committed to donating $2 million if the Y can raise $1.6 million by April 1, according to a news release issued this week.
The focus of the project is widening the facility’s main hallway, which connects the lobby area to swimming pools and other gyms. To widen that hallway by around seven feet, however, the Y will lose space from the current building’s gymnastics area.
The old gymnastics space will therefore be used as a multipurpose room, like martial arts or other exercise classes.
“So it really will give us another room, basically an overflow room for whatever we want to do — it’s going to be a nice space for us to utilize in that room,” said Aaron Rowsey, who serves as the YMCA’s co-chair on the campaign committee.
The new gym will focus on hosting gymnastics teams and related events, Rowsey said.
The YMCA hosts recreation gymnastics, a competitive team and practices for high school squads from Ashland, Lexington and Ontario, said Shala Parrish, the Y’s membership coordinator.
“We could host more if we had the room,” she said. “But in order to host those, we have to close the gym, which means all sporting activities have to stop a couple days.”
It will come outfitted with gymnastic floors, balance beams, uneven bars, room for strength training and conditioning and space for offices, storage and bleacher seating.
The new gymnastics gym would be the only such gym operated by a YMCA in Ashland and Richland counties, giving the Ashland Y an opportunity to expand that part of its programming.
Molly Riley, the Y’s CEO, said the project began because of a need for increasing safety within the main hallway and in the parking lot. Widening the hallway.
“Gymnastics is an important part of our programming down here,” she said. “To be able to add more participants now, it’ll be almost double the size of what we have.
“So we’ll be able to enlarge our numbers, do multiple things at one time, which will have an impact on how many kiddos we can take in the program … We are able to host big meets. Right now we can barely host a dual meet because of our capacity of the size of the gym. It will be a revenue maker for the Y as well as the team parents’ group.”
The new gym could also be used for competitive cheer, stunting and weight training, Riley said.
“We even talked about putting up … golfing nets, putting matting down, so it can be utilized during the day for golf. Like a driving range-type thing,” she said.
The Ashland Y’s announcement comes on the heels of the Ashland Salvation Army Kroc Center’s opening of an indoor water park and fitness center and Ashland University’s opening of Niss Athletic Center.
The Niss Athletic Center at Ashland University will be used primarily by student athletes training for baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, track and field and others.
There are also plans for the community to utilize the space for sports camps and clinics and other non-athletic events, a press release issued last week said about the center.
“Our goal is never to compete with somebody,” Rowsey said. “We are doing this to make sure the YMCA is a viable option for the community for the next 30 years … when you have a good Y, it’s a good asset for the community and it really does a good job of helping everybody.”
Other goals for the Y’s campaign include redesigning the front lobby and renovating locker rooms. The project also includes the addition of parking spots where there is currently gravel.
Provided the money is raised by April 1, construction could start this summer, Parrish said. The project would most likely be broken into phases.
Parrish said the goal is to keep the YMCA open through construction.
The YMCA is an Ashland County United Way Partner Agency. Those interested for more information or to learn how to donate can visit the YMCA’s website.
