North Suburban YMCA begins renovations as membership on the rise

• Reprints

Updated: March 3, 2012 8:40AM

Construction is scheduled to begin early this month on the second phase of renovations at the North Suburban YMCA, a project that includes new locker rooms, a completely new lobby with a skylight, improved handicapped accessibility, a new security system and new restrooms.

The $1.6 million project is being funded though the Y’s Capital Campaign, which has raised $5.4 million since it was launched in 2006.

The money has been used to pay off the facility’s mortgage and funded several improvements including a handicapped accessible playground, new fitness equipment and renovated children’s areas.

Howard Schultz, the Y’s executive director, said the YMCA Board of Directors has already chosen Crain Construction Co. as general contractor. The board was slated to review subcontractors’ bids at a meeting Tuesday, he said.

The project comes at a time when the Y is seeing large jumps in membership and program participation, Schultz said.

In mid-January more than 2,225 households held Y memberships, the greatest number in more than eight years. That represented an increase of 30 percent since 2006.

Membership has increased by 10 percent since last September, according to numbers from the Y. Family memberships, which represent 45 percent of all memberships, are up 20 percent since 2009.

“We’re having a real rebirth,” Schultz said. “People are responding to the fact we are an anchor in the community. People are excited about what we’re doing.”

Additionally, program participation has also been on a steady upward trend. While more than 11,000 participants registered for programs in all of 2011, more than 7,000 people have already registered for the first six months alone.

“Our members like the community aspect of being at the Y, as well as the great value of our programs,” said Membership Director Sari Glazebrook. “The quality of instructors is second to none, and there’s so much going on, each member of the family can enjoy their own different activities at the Y at the same time.”

During construction the lobby will be closed, but the Y has developed a plan for an alternate entrance. Also, as the locker rooms are gutted and rebuilt with wooden lockers and other enhancements, users will be moved to different locations.

But Schultz said there are plans already made to help people get around.

“We’ll have a road map. We’ll have people who can tell people where to go.”

The Y will remain open during construction, which is expected to be completed June 1, he said.

Schultz said the Y has been adding programs aimed at both attracting new families and providing specialized services that other area facilities can’t.

Recently a free Family Fitness Friday program was launched, with the first event on the same night as heavy snows hit the area. “Forty people came Friday in the snow and worked out with their kids,” Schultz said.

The Y also offers specialized programs such as a swimming program for Orthodox Jewish women, who cannot swim while others are in the pool. “They came here,” Schultz said.

Similarly, he said, the Y has been able to create other specialized programs for individuals and groups.

“When somebody says ‘I have a special needs child, can you help,’ we say ‘yes,’ “ Schultz said.

Schultz said that in addition to its programs and improved facilities, people are responding to the values the Y represents to the community.

“We’re focused on family and positive values,” he said. “We are the neighborhood that everybody’s looking for. That’s what we’re trying to be.

“The Y is not a fad, not a fitness center,” Schultz said. “There’s a buzz. You can feel it.”