Grove City YMCA eyeing expansion, to buy deck hockey arena

By Felicia A. Petro
Allied News Staff Writer

GROVE CITY November 16, 2008 11:35 pm

— Grove City YMCA is making steps toward expansion.
It is in the process of buying a deck hockey arena from the former Born2Run complex in Springfield Township, for an anticipated 21,000-square-foot addition to the back of the Y, which is located on East Main Street Extension.
The timeline isn’t set for the building, but “we anticipate it within the year,” said Dorry Foster, CEO at the Y.
The deck will be multi-purpose, also allowing for basketball, soccer and in-line skating. It would take up 13,000 square feet of the addition. The remaining 7,000 square feet would be used for the Y’s teen program, Foster noted.
The Y currently rents a building across the street to house its teen program.
Once the deck hockey arena is built, “it will be a steppingstone” for a second expansion, Foster added.
The Y wants to expand to build a therapeutic pool, family changing area and fitness center at the ground level by 2012. The current fitness center upstairs would be converted to an exercise studio, she noted.
Both expansions are part of a strategic plan the Y put together in 2006, which included input from over 50 individuals, Foster said.
Besides the work toward getting the deck from Born2Run – which was purchased by Hovis Auto Supply at an auction in July for $1.6 million to convert to a warehouse – the Y has secured an architect to draw designs for both Y expansions.
The deck will need to be broken down and stored in two tractor-trailer trucks off-site, Foster said.