YMCA at Cerritos Towne Center? There’s Lots of Reasons Either Way

A tug of war is developing between the City Council and the city administration over whether a YMCA building should be allowed among the glass and steel offices sprouting at the Towne Center redevelopment site.

Residents, with the active backing of at least one council member, Paul W. Bowlen, have begun pressing the city to set aside a parcel of Towne Center land for a new Y.

“I think we’ve got the votes to put (a YMCA) in Cerritos,” Bowlen said. “The question is where. I had initially thought it would be outside Towne Center, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to be the right place.”

However, City Manager Gaylord F. Knapp is adamantly opposed to putting a nonprofit group on land that is worth millions to the city in potential rent and tax revenues.

As envisioned by backers, the Y would feature a day-care center and an executive gym to draw prospective corporate tenants.

“The Towne Center is not getting filled very fast,” said Kenneth J. Bodger, who heads an ad hoc group, Friends of the Y, formed about a year ago to bring a YMCA building to Cerritos. “There are vacancies, and they need an edge to be competitive.”

Knapp, though, sent a memo warning the council that the city would lose $34.3 million to $42.9 million in revenue in the next 50 years if officials set aside a parcel of land for the YMCA.

In addition, Knapp said, the land itself is valued at $2.7 million.

Towne Center--120 acres of former dairy land--is alongside the Artesia Freeway between Bloomfield and Shoemaker avenues. A hotel and two office buildings are open. Another office building and the city’s Community Arts Center are under construction. It has not been decided whether the remaining 70 acres will be earmarked for offices or such other commercial uses as shops or restaurants.

The Y backers want the city to donate land, or to sell or lease it for $1 a year. Friends of the Y, Bodger said, would start a drive to pay for construction costs, estimated at $5 million to $7 million. Under state law, City Atty. Kenneth Brown said, cities can only sell or lease the land, but a $1 would be legal.

Knapp’s memo to the council pointed out that the city already offers more than 2,000 recreation programs and that the ABC Unified School District, which serves Cerritos, provides day-care programs at 10 schools in the city.

Also, Knapp said, the Town Center developer, Transpacific Development Co., has the option to lease the land and must agree to building a YMCA building, and Cerritos residents can use YMCA facilities in Lakewood and Bellflower.

Supporters of the YMCA plan said they believe that the estimates of lost revenue are exaggerated and pointed out that a Y would offer day-care services and recreational programs that are not available in the city.

The YMCA, for example, would offer day care for preschoolers, which the school district does not provide, supporters said.

Councilman Bowlen challenged Knapp’s estimates of lost revenue, pointing out that office buildings already open at Towne Center do not generate as much income as expected and that new buildings are not likely to fill up quickly, because there is a glut of office space in the Southland.

Bowlen said he is also concerned that Knapp’s memo “saw all the land only as money-producing. The Community Arts Center is not moneymaking. It’s going to cost $40 million plus an X amount more a year to run. A Y would benefit the community a lot more than that thing.”

Knapp did not return several calls to his City Hall office.

Transpacific Development Chairman Shurl Curci said the office vacancy rate in Los Angeles and Orange counties is about 20%.

Although the company is not aligned with the YMCA supporters, Curci said, a facility offering child care and an executive gym would make Towne Center offices more desirable.

“Anything that gave us a competitive edge would be of benefit,” he said.

The company made financial contributions to child-care centers at developments in Santa Monica and the San Francisco Bay Area and would consider a similar contribution to a YMCA facility at Towne Center, Curci said.

“The question is how much,” he added.

Both Bowlen and Councilman Sherman Kappe said the revenue question may ultimately carry less weight with the council than it does with Knapp.

“The loss of revenue I think I could live with if the city got a Y,” Kappe said. “I feel the Y provides enough community services that it’s justified.”

Though Kappe stopped short of saying he would vote for a Y in Towne Center, he said he is leaning toward it and wants to see the details worked out among the city, the YMCA and Transpacific Development.

Mayor Ann B. Joynt said she wants a YMCA facility but is “not convinced at this moment that the Towne Center is the best place for it.”

She said the council has directed city staff to come up with alternate sites. The report is due next month.

Councilman John Crawley said he wants a YMCA in Cerritos but wants to look at alternatives that would include Transpacific Development’s participation in the planning.

Councilman Daniel Wong was the most lukewarm about the plan, saying he would be support it if the YMCA bought the land and paid for the building like any other nonprofit organization or church group.