Rebranded and remodeled, Lino Lakes is set to reopen a shuttered YMCA, giving community residents a place to work out and gather once again.
Michael Carter, 74, of Lino Lakes couldn't be happier.
"I've missed the Y," he said as he stopped in to exercise last week. "It's convenient. I've put on a few pounds. I wanted it to reopen."
Called the Rookery Activity Center, the facility at 7690 Village Drive will officially open Monday. But it has already welcomed its first few members like Carter who had been with Endurance Fitness of Minnesota. The small gym that offered fitness classes in a nearby strip mall recently lost its lease, and is partnering with the Rookery to continue programming there. Classes have already started.
"It was an easy transition," said Endurance owner Ron Carlson. "This is our home base."

When the Lino Lakes YMCA closed in March 2020 as part of a reorganization plan — facilities in St. Paul and Prior Lake shut down, too — "it left a hole for the community and they had to go to Forest Lake or Shoreview," said Rookery manager Lisa Lamey.. "Now they can come back home."
About 275 people have already purchased memberships, Lamey said.
After the Y pulled out, the city-owned building sat empty, and that seemed like "a travesty," said Mayor Rob Rafferty. That's when city leaders and staff began looking for a way to get the facility back open.