New YMCA on track to open in 2024

PIQUA – Those behind the effort to build the new Miami County YMCA in downtown Piqua said they believe the campaign is in the home stretch.

Ground was broken in May for the 76,379-square-foot building. It will include an expanded basketball gym and early childhood watch space, additional meeting spaces for sports leagues, and increased pool and gym access.

The new facility will be more accessible to seniors and those with mobility issues and will allow the branch to offer more resources for health care and wellness, said Jim McMaken, Miami County YMCA executive director, and Steve Staley, capital campaign chairman.

The campaign to raise the estimated $21,750,000 needed to cover hard and soft costs for the new YMCA is about 98% complete, Staley said.

“We have work to do, we have to fill the gap,” he said.

“I would really like to get us over the top by the end of the year,” Staley said, noting hopes are those making year-end donation decisions find the option as attractive.

The project had been in the planning for years before the YMCA leadership said it was time to move forward. The cost changed several times while final planning was in the works along with initiation of fund raising.

The last estimate increase was due to the significant increases being seen in cost of materials.

A major financing piece came in March with an announcement by Citywide Development Corp. of $9 million in New Market Tax Credits toward the project through the Dayton Region New Market Fund.

Realistically, fundraising will continue as the project proceeds over the next 18 months. “We anticipate there will continue to be things that arise,” Staley said.

When the price tag was discussed earlier in the process, people would look perplexed, likely thinking there was no way the amount needed could be raised, he said.

“Needless to say we continue to be just as enthusiastic, maybe more so because when people drive by, they see this is really going to happen,” Staley said.

He and McMaken said Elizabeth Gutmann of Piqua, Y board president and executive committee chair, provided the push for the project to get underway after years of discussion.

Gutmann said she is “thrilled” with how the project has gone.

Plans today are for occupancy of the new building in spring 2024 with possible opening in late April or early May of that year.

See Miamicountyymca.net for more information on the project and donation details. This site also includes photos and a camera to view the construction.

Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com

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