Locker room renovation
starts on July 5
It’s been a long time in the making, but the renovation of the locker rooms and showers at the Hoerner YMCA is finally coming.
The builder, A.C. Contracting, will begin preliminary work on Wednesday, July 5, and begin full-fledged operations on Monday, July 10. A.C. estimates it will take 6 months to complete the entire project.
The locker rooms, showers and saunas will see their first major improvements in nearly 50 years. The project is estimated at $1.2 million.
The plan calls for lockers to be available for women and for men throughout the entire project. However, there may be some brief periods of time when we will need to make some accommodations for the ongoing construction.
When completed there will be a women’s locker room, a men’s locker room, two “flex” locker rooms and one private unisex changing area.
The flex locker rooms will be used to accommodate the greatest needs at varying times of the day. For instance, usage most mornings is largely by adults. But in the late afternoons, more youngsters will be in the locker rooms – particularly during swim season. The flex locker rooms can be used by adults in the mornings and then by youngsters in the afternoons.
One new, larger sauna will be built just off the pool deck and off the hallway. It will have a foyer that leads into the sauna. The foyer will allow staff to monitor the sauna’s usage, which cannot be done with the current location of the saunas.
The pool will be closed July 17-30. The closure is partially to assist the contractor and partially to provide time for work on the pool.
The renovation comes after a strategic planning session about 5 years ago. At that time, the Hoerner YMCA Board of Directors surveyed the community and members about the greatest needs for our area. From that research, the board planned two phases of renovation.
The first phase involved improving the programming space in the building. That phase cost $400,000 and added two classrooms/meeting rooms on the main floor, plus a storage room. It also created a second-floor, large group exercise room, which added 1,600 square feet.
The board purposely chose to renovate the programming area as the first priority. From that renovation, a Teen Center was created, and more than 60 teen-agers a day now take part in a wide variety of programs throughout the school year.
The second phase will freshen the locker rooms and showers, which have not seen any major work since the building opened in 1975.
If you have questions, feel free to contact CEO Mark Smidt.