City reveals improved YMCA
LE MARS — The Le Mars Area Family YMCA is starting 2021 with a bright new look as an addition/renovation project is nearly complete.
A 6,000 square foot addition to the south side of the building along 12th Avenue Southeast is the most noticeable change for the facility occupied by the Y since 1998.
Todd Lancaster, YMCA executive director, said the addition includes a new cardio room, new offices, new front lobby, new front entrance and an area for an elevator. The second floor offers a new fitness room and family locker rooms.
“It’s really nice now that we have a bigger area. A big reason we wanted to add this addition is because when people come in, the front desk is right there. In our previous setup, the desk was a ways back from the door. Sometimes people came in and didn’t know where to go,” Joyce Feuerhelm, membership & marketing director, explained. “Now when they come in, we have someone at the front desk to greet them and help them out.”
The elevator is a great asset, as those accessing the upper level do not have to walk up the outside ramp and ring a doorbell to get in.
Most of the remaining interior work to be done will be painting and installing flooring and ceilings.
“We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Lancaster said. “It’s just refreshing to have all the bright Y colors. Joyce is our Y logo police lady here.”
Planning for the addition/renovation began in December 2019.
“We started demolition in February 2020 and we are technically done with what we call Phase I, which is the new addition out front. That portion of everything is done,” Lancaster said. “But now we’re doing Phase II, which is interior renovation. So before we could get out of there, we had to have this (the front addition) done and now the rooms on the interior that we vacated are being redone.”
That includes the old office area, the flex-fitness area, and the old cardio room.
He anticipates renovation will be completed around Jan. 15.
“It is absolutely falling into the timeline that was,” he said. “The contractors have been really good to work with and adapted to the situation and everything.”
The Le Mars City Council approved a total of 15 contracts to 13 sub-contractors for the renovation project on Feb. 11, 2020. Project manager is Ryan Wiltgen of Wiltgen Construction.
The YMCA rents The Wellness Center building from the City of Le Mars, the building owner.
While work started in February, the March 17 shutdown of the facility due to COVID-19 was an advantage for the construction process.
“It was probably a ‘blessing’ in disguise,” Lancaster said of the shutdown.
“A lot of demolition happened when we were closed, and knowing now what we know now, it was good, because it was dusty, loud, and it was a disaster zone,” Lancaster said. “They probably did 70 percent of the demolition during that time.”
“For the construction part, the shutdown helped, for the business part it did not,” he added.
The addition has allowed the existing spaces to be renovated into more usable areas.
“The renovation has given us the opportunity to have more and better dedicated spaces. For example, we ran Y summer camps from the upper level lobby or game room, wherever we could find a space. The after school program really didn’t have a dedicated spot,” Lancaster explained. “Now we have a room where our staff can have their own space, and will not be interrupted.”
It was the same situation with the tutoring rooms.
“When tutors had to do work, they were in an old renovated closet or storeroom. Now we have dedicated tutoring rooms,” he said.
“Our after school and camp programs were growing before COVID-19, so we really did need a bigger space for them,” Feuerhelm added.
YMCA patrons have nothing but compliments for the changes made.
“People love the new cardio room. They love the view,” Feuerhelm said. “It’s been nice, too, with COVID that we’re able to spread out all the equipment and still social distance.”
The facility had only three windows before the addition.
“Now we have the whole south face is all windows to the outside,” Lancaster said. “One of our members just this morning said, ‘I’ve just got two words for you, thanks and wow.’”
“It feels like a nicer place, too,” Feuerhelm added.
She also pointed out with the addition, all fitness classes will be in the building, instead of a nearby building.
The building she referred to used to be in later days of Westmar, the dance studio where the dance team practiced.
“When we moved here, in 1998, it already had the mirrors in it and the dance floor. If you go back in time, prior to that, it was used for industrial arts,” Lancaster said.
The renovation project did not include any additional work to the swimming pool area or gymnasium.
The total estimated construction cost was more than $2.2 million, according to City Administrator Jason Vacura.
Funding for the project will come the Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation (LABF), the city’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and from an Enhance Iowa CAT grant.
“The LABF originally allocated $1,000,000 towards the project. When the City of Le Mars expanded the Urban Renewal Area in 2019 to include much of the old Westmar campus, it made this project eligible for TIF money, and the LABF’s amount was reduced to $390,000. The move allowed the LABF to use their donors money on other projects. One of those projects became Cleveland Park,” Vacura explained.
“The total CAT grant amounted to $420,000. The money was dispersed over five different projects. Since the Community Wellness Center was the last of the five projects to get going, most of the CAT money was already spent. Only about $47,000 of CAT money will actually go towards the Community Wellness Center project,” Vacura continued.
The grant close out date is Jan. 31, 2021. At this point it is just the submission of paperwork and that will get done before the date, according to Vacura.
“We are less than a month away from construction completion and it looks to be right on budget,” Vacura said.
Lancaster and Feuerhelm said they look forward to more people coming to the YMCA for activities, and participating in programs offered.
The facility was formerly the LifeSports Center for Westmar University.
In 1996, the City of Le Mars took out two bonds, the first of $1.6 million to pay for Westmar operations, and then a second of $4.25 million to purchase the college, with the city taking ownership of the campus property.
Since the college closed, four buildings have been demolished, five have been sold, and three remain city-owned and are used for various purposes.
