WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Officials with the Wausau Woodson YMCA held another question-and-answer session with members regarding the next steps in their $19 million renovations and expansion Monday afternoon.
CEO Brian Bailey and other leaders organized the events to answer some of the most common questions the staff has faced, including how the new universal locker room setups will function for members. He says they will function much like a family locker room with personal space to shower and change along with communal space at the sinks and mirrors. “They’re just more user-friendly for families and individuals who need more privacy.”
Construction at the Y is expected to last up to 20 months, with various areas either being reconfigured or closed depending on the phase of the project. While members may be inconvenienced for a period of time, Bailey says, for the most part, they’ll still have access to all their favorite services. “There will be small, temporary shutdowns or places that will change sites. You won’t lose it but it might be in a different spot for a few months.”
One example will be the fitness center, which may be configured differently while the new area is being built. Additional plans call for one of the facility’s two pools to be shut down and drained during construction, which will also allow the Y to make repairs to that pool.
Bailey also says parking at the facility will become much more convenient in the next nine months. Currently, members are parking across 3rd street in a lot that’s half gravel and half paved. “It’ll be much better because we will have our main parking lot back, we will have covered parking for seniors, and then we will have 150 spots that are directly across the street.”
The plan is to pave that area across 3rd street this spring to provide order to that lot, instead of the current “hodgepodge” as Bailey called it.
In addition to fielding the member questions, Baily also provided an update on the fundraising portion of the project. The YMCA raised $16 of the $19 million through private and corporate donations and is in the middle of a public campaign to raise the remaining $3 million. Of that, he says about $1.7 million still needs to be raised. “We’d really like to see that raised in the next month or so. We want to make sure to raise every dollar so we don’t have to take on any additional debt for the project. So far we’ve been doing really well, but we still have a little left to raise.”
