NoDa residents say they were ‘ignored and pushed aside’ during Charlotte YMCA sale
The YMCA on North Davidson Street will close after the nonprofit sold its Johnston property to undisclosed developers, according to a YMCA news release.
Financial needs weighed on the organization’s decision to sell the property to developers, according to the release. The YMCA also said it won’t put a future facility on the same site. The Johnston YMCA location is expected to operate through the end of 2023.
“This decision, while in the best interest of our Y, was extremely difficult for us to make, and we know that many community members will share in our disappointment,” the news release says.
The nonprofit says it’s worked with the NoDa community for several years on a plan to redevelop the site at 3025 North Davidson St. But NoDa Neighborhood and Business Association President Krysten Reilly said that’s “greatly exaggerated” and called on the YMCA to retract the statement.
“For years, the NoDa NBA has asked the Y for their willingness to collaborate with us for a community center that brought value to both the NoDa community and to the YMCA, and we were ignored and pushed aside,” Reilly said in an emailed statement. “To learn through a public press release of this sale when I personally had once again asked for an update a week ago is insensitive and shows the Y’s failure to be inclusive and respectful of the community they will no longer reside in.”
The developer, which has not been identified by the YMCA, “will make further announcements regarding the plans for the project in time,” spokesperson Heather Briganti told The Charlotte Observer. The Johnston branch suffered pandemic-related blows, Briganti said, and the sale is part of a “repositioning” to continue to serve Charlotte over the next 150 years.
Reilly said she hopes the developer who purchased the property will collaborate with the neighborhood association and “uphold some of the very valuable community amenities that are so desperately needed.”
The YMCA will work with staff members at the Johnston location to help them find other jobs, Briganti said. YMCA staff, volunteers and NoDa community members were involved in the process of selecting a developer for the property.
The YMCA will update ymcacharlotte.org/branches/johnston as more information becomes available.
Johnston YMCA dates back to 1951
The Johnston YMCA has about 1,500 members who use its pool, fitness center, community programming and other amenities, Briganti said.
Membership at the branch fluctuated over the past two decades. In January 2001, the branch had 2,000 members after growing 33% in 15 months, according to Observer archives. In 2015, YMCA officials told the Observer its North Davidson facility was at capacity and had waiting lists, with day camp attendees growing from 40 children to 250 over a period from 2012-2015.
The Johnston YMCA’s inception goes back several decades before the existing building’s construction to November 1951, when the location received financial support to open from Highland Park Manufacturing Company. Highland Park was a textile mill that employed many north Charlotteans through 1969 when it went out of business, according to Observer archives.
The decision to close the NoDa YMCA comes as Charlotte City Council members are discussing a new recreation facility on the site of the former Eastland Mall in east Charlotte. At a city economic development meeting Monday, Mayor Pro Tem Braxton Winston said the city needs more recreation facilities.
“Personally and anecdotally, as a parent of a youngster that is involved in many different sports, we need amateur sport facilities in the city,” Winston said. “It is pretty ridiculous that families have to go to South Carolina or Concord or Indian Trail to participate in those those events.”
