Old Colony YMCA Expands with $12.5 Million Bond

February 22, 2015 : The Boston Globe, by Emily Sweeney

The Old Colony YMCA will be enlarging its footprint in the coming months by building a new facility in Plymouth and expanding those already in East Bridgewater and Stoughton.

The construction will be financed by a $12.5 million tax-exempt bond from MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency.

Vincent J. Marturano, the old Colony Y’s president and chief executive officer, said users won’t experience much, if any, disruption while the work is underway. “Programs will run as usual,” he said.

Old Colony YMCA has partnered with A.D. Makepeace, a Wareham-based cranberry grower, to build the new Y in Plymouth. It will measure nearly 25,000 square feet and feature a child care center, a health and wellness facility, and locker rooms. The project will be developed in two phases. Construction began in the summer of 2014, said Marturano.

The new building, which A.D. Makepeace is building for $5 million, is expected to open to the public in September, he added. The second phase will add two swimming pools, a gymnasium, and a running track.

In Stoughton, a $4.2 million expansion is planned for the YMCA facility on Central Street, which will add approximately 23,280 square feet to the existing building and create more parking spaces. The building at 445 Central St. used to house the Striar Jewish Community Center. In the six years that the YMCA has been there, “membership and use of the facility has grown and grown and grown,” said Marturano. It currently serves approximately 12,000 individual users, and more capacity for programs is needed, he said. All permits are in hand, according to Marturano, and the project should take 14 to 16 months.

In East Bridgewater, a $2.5 million expansion project is planned for the YMCA at 635 Plymouth St. that will add another 10,000 square feet of space by constructing a second floor on the single-story building. “It’s outgrown its space,” said Marturano. Other improvements will also be made, and hardwood flooring will be installed in the gym. Marturano said construction should take about a year and the Y is working on getting the necessary permits and approvals from the town.

The MassDevelopment bond also helped cover the costs of a $600,000 renovation of the YMCA facility at 25 Elm St. in North Easton. The 30,000-square-foot building, which was once a private fitness club, was updated and new lighting was installed, and improvements were made to the ventilation and heating systems. “The kind of stuff people see and feel,” Marturano said. “It’s become much more family-friendly. It’s really been well received.”