Y facility good fit in East Ward
10/27/2005
BY MICHAEL-ALLAN MARION
EXPOSITOR STAFF / BRANTFORD
Members, visitors give thumbs-up to temporary site
To YM-YWCA officials it was a great way to start the future.
In the 5:30 predawn darkness of Tuesday morning, staff unlocked the main doors to the new Y Family Program Centre at Wellington and Clarence streets to find members standing about, pumped to be the first to use the new, top-rated workout machines.
Within a few hours there were about 30 women and men working up a sweat treadmills, weights and other exercisers, while the stores and house of East Ward community formed a backdrop behind them beyond the building’s huge windows.
In the children’s play centre across the way, about a dozen youngsters were amusing themselves with toys and games beneath a huge sign that read Mind, Body Spirit.
And at the main desk, smiling staff were busy signing up new members who kept streaming in.
“We’re back in business and it feels great,” Y CEO Nancy Romanenko said as she led a tour of the new facility.
“This is the community right here,” she motioned to all the people in the weight room, “and this centre belongs here. The vast majority are saying it’s proximity to their neighbourhood that brought them here.”
Nearly two months after the YM-YWCA closed the doors on its longtime 40 Queen St. building, it is reborn in a gleaming new facility with the early 1900s International industrial architectural style resurrected from the drab, bricked-in former textile Work Wear factory that had descended into a brownfield site.
The project was made possible with the help of brownfield developer Steve Charest, president of King & Benton Redevelopment Corp., who helped finance the $1-million-plus costs with a long-term lease with no profit, then execute the renovations.
The Y will use the building as a transitional place for most of its programs until a new permanent facility is built in the next few years, then keep it as the Y Family Program Centre for certain programs.
The tour also wound its way through a gym, a youth fitness centre with equipment designed for adolescents and youth teens, a group fitness room with a mirror wall, musical equipment and a large floor space; and shower and change rooms complete with saunas exuding the aroma of fresh cedar.
Most rooms look out through the big windows of old onto the community all around.
“This is what makes it all worthwhile,” Charest said as he watched people mill walk around the rooms or use the equipment.
“We’ve turned this building into something that fits right in with the community.”
As she worked out on a piece of equipment in the weight room, Alicia MacAskill, 26, explained between deep breaths that she had come all the way down from the north end to take out a membership for the first time at the urging of her boyfriend Rich Swerdfiger, a few machines away, who had been a member for years.
She said it was the look, atmosphere and state-of-the-art equipment of the new centre that sold her.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “People here are friendly and the place offers lots of options.”
At the other side of the room, MacAskill’s grandmother Eva, 85, was rejoicing that the new centre had opened. She’s been a member for 35 years and credits the Y for her continued health.
“The new place is different. I’ll get used to it -- quickly, I think,” she said.
“Take it easy, Eva” Romanenko cautioned her gently. “Work back into it slowly.”
Memberships cost $30 per month for individuals and $50 per month for families.
