TOLEDO – Residents of the Warren Sherman neighborhood and the City of Toledo celebrated opening day at the new Wayman D. Palmer YMCA on Wednesday.
A full parking lot was a positive sign as people circled the lot looking for spaces to park for the highly anticipated grand opening.
“I think we broke records for any of our grand openings,” exclaimed Melinda Hunt, membership director for the new YMCA. Hunt, who has worked with the YMCA for more than two decades, said she’d never seen such a response to a new YMCA building at 200 E. Bancroft St.
“We sold 50 memberships today. The turnout was huge!” she said.
The YMCA of Greater Toledo is also celebrating 160 years of service in Toledo.
Len Hicks, of north Toledo, described the state-of-the-art facility as “roomy. It looks comfy. It looks friendly,” he said as he knocked the pool balls around in the lobby.
The shine on the floors and clean white walls were a welcome sight to the hundreds of community members who walked through the Y’s front doors.
“I take it that this Y is going to be very successful,” Hunt said.
When asked why the community responded so strongly to this central Toledo YMCA, Hunt responded that “we’ve never had anything like this in this area.”
The previous Wayman D. Palmer YMCA, just a few yards from the new one, was not a full service facility and lacked many amenities, most noticeably a swimming pool.
Back in fall of 2023, during the groundbreaking for the new building, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said during the planning for this community project that he was not interested in cutting any corners for the Warren-Sherman neighborhood facility.
$28.7 million later, the pool, the one part of the building still not completely finished, was the main sticking point Kapszukiewicz said he fought for, and that the community seemed to be most excited for.
“I love the fact they have a pool put in there because we never had one,” said Dymon Carter, of north Toledo, as she watched her sister’s kids in the Kids Zone, one of the most dramatic updates in the new facility.
Comparing to the old building to the new one, Orlondo Cotter, the Kids Zone family coordinator, said the new facility was “lightyears” ahead of the older version.
“You know, when you have a 50-year-old building, you have 50-year old-problems,” she said. “We had leaks. We had that ‘old building smell,’ all the lovely old things that you get with an old building.”
“But also, we didn’t have a play structure. We didn’t have new computers,” she added.
Upon entering the new facility, guests and members will see a cardio and strength building area straight ahead; to the left is a family locker-room with custom code lockers and personal changing rooms leading to the pool, which is set to open in May.
When visitors turn right upon entering the building, they will enter the NAACP-specified basketball courts, the new Kids Zone (daycare), complete with a slide indoor playground, and a computer lab setup for gaming and for help with school and activity rooms for exercise classes.
“So, I’m a little emotional, because if you’ve seen what our facility looked like over there versus now … this is amazing,” said Lydia Falls, the membership experience wellness director for the new YMCA.
“Being in the facility [that is] clean, being able to have a swimming pool, you know, for the community,” was noticeably meaningful to Falls on a personal, meaningful and emotional level.
“The building was leaking. It was falling apart,” she said as she described the old Wayman D. Palmer. “Our heating system was crazy, because one minute it will heat the room, and next minute it had, like, the air conditioning on. This is so much better.”
The Wayman D. Palmer YMCA will also replace the Summit Street YMCA in downtown.
March 14 will be the last day for the Summit Street YMCA. The equipment from the Summit Street facility will be moved to the new facility, which will host a Head Start Program and a food pantry, “…so we will be feeding the homeless,” said Falls. “We also have a washer and dryer so people can come and wash their clothes.
“I like the fact that we have this here because we are trying to customize for the community,” she said. “This Y is unique.”
This Saturday from noon to 2 p.m., the YMCA will host a welcome event with Live Remote with The Juice, membership give-a-ways, free swag, group exercise demos, Cherry Street Second Helping food truck and tours available all-day.
Hours of operation: Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. - 8 p.m. | Saturday from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. | Sunday from 12 p.m. - 4 p.m.
