Saturday, March 25, 2000
YMCA poised for renovation
Project will be area's largest ever
BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The YMCA of Greater Cincinnati next week will launch its largest-ever renovation and expansion campaign, with projects slated for Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana.
“This is the boldest commitment the YMCA has ever made to the region,” said spokeswoman Joyce Wise. “We're talking about an impact that will ripple throughout Greater Cincinnati.”
The $32.6 million program — to be announced in detail Tuesday evening at the YMCA's annual meeting — envisions several projects to be built from now through 2002. Among them:
• New full-service YMCA centers near downtown Cincinnati, in Northern Kentucky and in Loveland by 2002.
• Three free-standing “teen centers” that would feature computer and multimedia spaces and room for social events. One will be downtown, another in Clifton and a third at a location to be announced.
• Instead of one large center, Indiana's Dearborn County would get smaller “program centers” in Lawrenceburg, Aurora and Harrison.
• Nearly all existing YMCA facilities would get face lifts, ranging from new aquatic centers to launching new “Kids Clubs.”
The YMCA of Greater Cincinnati has about 108,000 members who use about 20 local facilities. The YMCA's most recent big project was the $2.2 million William and Harriet Clippard YMCA, which opened in 1994 in Colerain Township.
The new projects stem from a strategic planning effort launched in 1998 to update YMCA services system-wide. Some details about the plan were made public last month in newsletters and an advertising insert published in the February edition of Cincinnati Magazine.
On Tuesday, even more detail about funding and site locations will be announced. Also, Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner and University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins are scheduled to make announcements about their involvement with the YMCA expansion.
Ms. Wise would not say whether that means Mr. Lindner and Mr. Huggins have pledged financial contributions.
“All I can say is there has been a significant amount of money raised already,” Ms. Wise said.
Even so, she said the YMCA will likely launch a public capital campaign to complete the projects.
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