It’s still several years in the future, but planning is under way for a new YMCA facility in Kewanee.
Two Rivers YMCA, which operates the Kewanee YMCA as well as several facilities in the Illinois Quad Cities, has acquired a vacant space at 401 N. Grace Ave. as a site for a new YMCA building.
Mike Wennenkamp, chief executive officer of Two Rivers YMCA, said Thursday that there are plans to start a major fund-raising campaign for the new facility late this year. Groundbreaking will be after the fund-raising campaign is completed, and Wennenkamp said construction will probably take 18 to 24 months.
He said strategic planning for the new facility began 2 1/2 years ago. Community leaders, funders and donors were involved in the planning process.
They came up with a “strategic roadmap” for a fund-raising campaign, Wennenkamp said.
He said the people on the planning team agreed that the existing YMCA is a “magnet” for the community, serving people of all ages with a variety of programs. That attitude, Wennenkamp said, “gave a lot of hope” for the success of the campaign, which will probably have a goal of raising $5 million.
The new facility should better meet the need for the YMCA’s programs. That need has outgrown the ability of the organization to meet them at its existing building on West First Street.
“We looked at renovating this place,” Wennenkamp said, but he added that the cost of those renovations would probably equal or exceed the cost of a new place.
He said YMCA leaders would work with city officials on plans for the existing building.
YMCA officials are looking into possible federal and state incentives that could help cover the cost of the new building.
Wennenkamp said the new building would probably be two stories (unlike the existing facility, it will have an elevator) and cover 40,000 to 50,000 square feet. Grow Development, a firm that has worked on other YMCA buildings, would be the designers of Kewanee’s new one.
He said YMCA officials have spoken to people at Black Hawk College, whose community education and welding facilities would be nearby, about what that neighborhood might look like when the new facility is built.
Nicole Moehring, Kewanee YMCA branch executive, said programs could be developed in a new building that would enable the organization to expand its efforts in serving the needs of young people and developing their character.
Wennenkamp and Moehring said they are pleased that the new YMCA building will be close to downtown in a location convenient for Kewaneeans to reach.
The YMCA will continue to operate where it is now until the new facility is available. “Assuming we can keep this place running, there’s no need to move anywhere,” Wennenkamp said.
The First Street YMCA building opened in 1932. One of its biggest drawbacks is that it lacks an elevator to the second floor, where the basketball and racquetball courts are.
Some fitness equipment has been moved from the second floor to the ground floor to make it more easily accessible.
