S. Toledo YMCA site to become green space

South Toledo YMCA THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY Enlarge | Photo Reprints

After a failed grass-roots campaign last year to save the South Toledo YMCA, the 55-year-old building will be torn down and maintained as green space, officials for the organization announced yesterday.

Todd Tibbits, YMCA president and chief executive officer, said the Y could not find anyone interested in purchasing the building.

"We have had conversations about making it additional parkland and part of Woodsdale Park, and the Y is very open to that concept," Mr. Tibbits said.

He said razing the building is "certainly not a good feeling," but neither the organization nor the South Toledo neighbors want a vacant building sitting on that property.

The building will cost the Y about $170,000 to demolish, which includes about $30,000 to remove asbestos, Mr. Tibbits said.

The YMCA and JCC of Greater Toledo Board of Trustees voted unanimously Wednesday to demolish the building, which was closed in December after years of losing money on its operations.

"The decision was based on the prohibitive cost factors in maintaining the vacant building," a statement the YMCA released yesterday said. "The YMCA and the city of Toledo are exploring possibilities of eventually making the green space part of the existing Woodsdale Park."

The closure followed several failed attempts last year to keep open the building on Woodsdale Park Drive.

In July, 2009, YMCA officials announced they were giving the building to CedarCreek Church, the Perrysburg-based megachurch.

It said it would invest between $1.5 million to $2 million to renovate and expand the facility in opening a new campus.

That plan was withdrawn after neighbors objected.

YMCA officials then launched a last-ditch effort to boost membership. The campaign aimed to sell 376 new South Y-only memberships from late September to Dec. 12, but sold only the equivalent of 118.

The branch reported 957 members before the campaign, with 175 receiving some financial assistance.

Officials said 1,500 to 1,600 members are required for a branch to be profitable.

YMCA officials had said last year that the South Y was losing $5,000 a week - a rate on pace for an annual $260,000 loss - and also cited the loss of $2 million in state funding for the Early Learning Initiative program as factors for closing the branch.

Steve Herwat, Toledo's deputy mayor of operations, said the YMCA and city have discussed the property's future after the demolition.

"We are interested in talking about it, but there is not agreement," Mr. Herwat said. "Certainly having that building being vacant and boarded-up would be a concern to us as a city, so we are glad they are addressing that."

The Rev. Lee Powell, senior pastor of CedarCreek Church, said YMCA officials approached him about two months ago to ask if the church might again consider moving into the building.

"The Y did not work for us, and for all the same reasons we're not interested this time," Mr. Powell said. "We are still very aggressively working on [a different] property in South Toledo."

He added that "it's sad to see it go, but we don't have an opinion on whether or not it should be torn down. That's the Y's decision."

Shortly after the membership drive failed late last year, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens and Y Members announced a boycott, calling on all YMCA members to cancel memberships and stop donating money.

Cooper Suter, an outspoken member of the citizens' coalition, said it is a "waste of a facility" to tear it down.

"It's a shame some good use for the community could not be found," Mr. Suter said. "I am happy that it will be parkland, and that would not be a bad compromise."

Councilman D. Michael Collins, whose district includes the building, said he also was pleased the Y would turn the property into green space.

"For that building to remain in the neighborhood in the condition it is in creates nothing more than an opportunity for blight," Mr. Collins said.

"The true victims of the Y's closure would be those property owners who live in that specific neighborhood."

He also would like to explore having the city acquire the land to expand Woodsdale Park.

"If it were to be offered to the city in a land swap or a straight transaction where the city purchases it for a buck, I think it would have a partial return to what it was originally designated to do, and that is a venue for recreation," Mr. Collins said.

Staff writer David Yonke contributed to this report.

Contact Ignazio Messina at:

imessina@theblade.com

or 419-724-6171.