YMCA answers growth needs

As membership explodes, the expansion will offer ssomething for the entire family.

By BETH N. GREY, Times Correspondent
Published January 21, 2008

The centerpiece of the YMCA 10,500-square-foot expansion is the 8,000-square-foot wellness center, above at right in green.
	[Handout]

SPRING HILL - More children, growing families and additional seniors pursuing active lifestyles in recent years have stretched the resources of the Hernando County Family YMCA.

At 10 a.m. on Jan. 30, officials at the Y will begin answering these increased demands when they break ground for a whopping 10,500-square-foot expansion of the facility at 1300 Mariner Blvd.

The centerpiece of the $2.2-million project will be an 8,000-square-foot wellness center, complete with state-of-the-art equipment, that is designed to meet the needs of everyone in the family, said executive director Sue Ball.

A new teen center will have interactive video equipment for youngsters, more age-appropriate activities, plus a meeting place for the Y's Leaders Club.

The Kids Zone, a babysitting site for children while their parents are enjoying other Y activities, will double in space. The cycling room will be enlarged, with a cycling instructor to lead participants.

Another group exercise studio will be added for classes in tae kwon do, Pilates, children's dancing and tumbling, Zumba exercise to music, the Silver Sneakers, a pursuit for seniors, and sessions focused on arthritis relief.

The wellness center should open by the fall, said Ball, with other expansions to follow. Proud Pelican, a Spring Hill builder, is general contractor on the project.

"Our community has grown since the last expansion in 2003, from 1,600 unit memberships to over 4,000," Ball said. She explained that a unit may be a single member or a family, and that the number of Y users has jumped from about 3,500 people to 10,000.

The bulk of the money needed for the expansion and renovations will come from an ongoing capital campaign begun in 2003, which Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent and County Commissioner David Russell have chaired. The Y will be left with some debt, but the exact amount is not known since the fundraising continues.

Among the major contributors, Ball said, are Oak Hill Hospital and the St. Petersburg Times.

Earlier plans for a second swimming pool, expected to be partly financed with county funds, have been put on hold. "With tax rollbacks," Ball said, "the timing is just not right."

A satellite Y, a long-term goal with the Hernando County School District in a planned campus in Southern Hills along U.S. 41, is still on the agenda.

"We are continuing to work with the school district," Ball said.

In 2003, a $1.2-million project more than doubled activity spaces, moved YMCA administrative offices out of trailers, expanded the aerobics room with a spring-suspension floor, and added rooms for regular and therapy massage, new fitness equipment and a larger kids' gym.

In 2004, volunteers and donated labor added and installed slides and swings and climbing apparatus to an outdoor play yard.

[Last modified January 20, 2008, 21:58:24]