YMCA closing Rochester facility as it expands off-site services

The Rochester YMCA will close later this month, a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said Wednesday.

But the closing of the building after nearly 60 years doesn't mean an end to Y services — quite the opposite. Freed of an aging and oversized building, the organization plans to expand its services by partnering with community groups to "meet people where they are," spokeswoman Joan Schimml said.

"It's all about expanding the mission for us but doing it in the way people are telling us they need support and services," she said. "And what people are telling us is that they want us to meet them in convenient, accessible locations. This will actually result in an expansion of our presence."

Programs could include working with Olmsted County Parks and Recreation on outdoor learning experiences or with local schools for youth development programs, said Mike Lavin, vice president of operations for YMCA of the North, which includes the Rochester Y along with nearly 30 other YMCAs, primarily in the Twin Cities area.

"We're closing the doors on a building. We're not leaving the community," he said. The Rochester Y's early childhood learning center, housed at a separate site, will remain open.

The YMCA building dates from 1964 and wasn't well-configured for modern needs, Lavin said. At 80,000 square feet, it's larger than a typical YMCA.

"We are currently operating in an oversized, outdated facility," Lavin said. "It no longer made it a sustainable model." When first built, the building housed both a YMCA and a YWCA. The YMCA took over the entire building about 35 years ago and it made for an awkward fit because the building basically had two of everything. That's made efficient use of the space difficult, Lavin said.

When the Y was built, it was the only fitness game in town. Since then, a range of commercial health clubs have come onto the scene. But it was the pandemic, not competition, that prompted the closure, Schimml said.

"The real factor is the pandemic. The competition piece isn't really a major factor in Rochester," she said. "Things have changed in the last couple of years in the pandemic. And we realized the best way [forward] was to expand our mission and partner with community partners to bolster programs that people are asking for."

Child care services are likely to grow, she said, because people need "child care they can trust." The Y also is likely to bolster its programs for senior citizens.

"We'll continue to expand our core services," Lavin said. "We just won't be in a single location."