The YMCA in downtown Columbus is being renovated and getting new equipment.
Construction crews are working on everything from renovating the gym and building a new front entrance to repaving the parking lot and replacing equipment, according to Cynthia Mutch, Membership and Marketing director at the YMCA.
Mutch did not release sources of the money for the current renovations.
The original gym, and the smaller of the YMCA’s two gyms, is getting new lights, ceiling and floors. It has been used for group fitness classes. It will become a Healthy Living Center, Mutch said, and hold most of the YMCA’s fitness equipment. Mutch expects the renovations on the future Healthy Living Center to be completed by the time new equipment is delivered in mid-May.
The new equipment is all from Cybex, a fitness equipment company, Mutch said. The YMCA will get new cardio pieces such as treadmills, as well as selectorized equipment which allows members to use whatever strength and muscle groups they want. Mutch added that the Y will keep some pieces that it already has and that those pieces will be incorporated into the Healthy Living Center with the new one.
The new cardio pieces will have embedded receivers and transmitters inside which will allow users to plug in their headphones and choose which television they want to watch so that the sound is delivered directly through the earphones, Mutch said. That way people don’t have to exercise while listening to multiple TVs playing all different programs.
Once the new gym is completed, renovations will begin to put the front lobby and main entrance on Second Avenue, where the main entrance was when the YMCA was first built in 1930, Mutch said. Currently visitors and members enter the building through side entrances.
“We’re planning a nice lobby entrance and a welcome desk and all of that similar … to how it was in 1930 when the building was built, more similar in location,” Mutch said.
The circuit in the building will be turned into a studio room to use for group fitness classes, following the renovations to the gym.
“We have a small studio now and then we’ve been using the little gym for group fitness classes, but we’ll have a studio that will be completely dedicated only to group fitness classes,” Mutch said. “We’ll be able to make some little cubbies and shelves in there to hold all of the equipment needed for the classes. It’ll be a really … nice big open room, so we’re kind of excited about that as well.”
At the end of the summer, the indoor pool will get a new roof and the parking lot will be repaved, Mutch added.
Mutch expects all planned renovations to be complete by August or September.
This is Phase 2 of renovations that began two and a half years ago when donations from the YMCA’s Board of Directors paid for new men’s and women’s locker rooms, Mutch said.
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