YMCA Breaks Ground

Huber Heights facility should be ready by March

By Anthony Gottschlich
Dayton Daily News

HUBER HEIGHTS | The expression, "Somebody get me a shovel," is a popular one around City Hall these days.

For the third consecutive week, city leaders and others gathered to break ground last Thursday on yet another new construction project.

This time it was for a new YMCA fitness and community center at the northwest corner of Shull Road and Brandt Pike.

Two weeks earlier it was for a new Interstate 70/Ohio 202 interchange, followed a week later for a $7 million golf course at the Benchrock development site in northern part of the city.

Deputy City Manager Kevin Carver said the YMCA will benefit the city in a number of ways.

"The city (which has no YMCA) will get a new full-service YMCA facility," Carver said. "In addition, there are a number of medical and doctors offices that are being built there."

Carver said the YMCA also will run the city's parks and recreation department (currently without staff) and collaborate with the city "on any number of recreational efforts."

In addition, the YMCA will manage the municipal swimming pool on Fishburg Road, saving the city $10,000 a year, Carver said.

In exchange, the city will lease the Shull Road property to the YMCA for a dollar a year for 99 years and pay the YMCA $150,000 a year for 20 years, Carver said.

Tim Helm, chief executive officer of the YMCA of Greater Dayton, said the estimated $7 million project also involves Grandview Hospital, which will use about 15,000 square feet for medical offices.

The entire facility will occupy 56,000 square feet on 17 acres of land, he said.

Helm said the center will be similar to the Kleptz YMCA in Englewood, which is a state-of-the-art facility with a gym, fitness area, indoor track, swimming pool and a teen center equipped with big screen televisions, pool tables and pingpong tables.

Outside, members will find soccer and baseball fields, he said.

Last Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony was just that: a ceremony. Construction actually began in April, Helm said.

He said the facility should be open by March and that membership rates would be determined closer to the opening.

According to the YMCA of Greater Dayton's Web site (www.ymcaonline.org), families and adults must pay $100 to join, then $63 a month for families and $46 a month for single adults. The youth rate is $25 to join and $20 a month thereafter.

Financial assistance is available for those who qualify.

Helm said the facility would employ eight to 12 full-time staffers and 40 to 50 part timers.

"It's a great collaborative model between Grandview, the Y and the city," he said. "The real winner will end up being the children and families of Huber Heights who will have access to a whole new range of services."

Contact Anthony Gottschlich at 225-7408.