New YMCA Will Double the Size of Current Facility

Construction is expected to begin this summer on the new Gardena-Carson Family YMCA facility at Vermont Avenue and Artesia Boulevard.

The building will nearly double the space at the 30-year-old YMCA facility on Redondo Beach Boulevard. The local YMCA, which experienced a 12% jump in membership last year, outgrew its 15,500-square-foot facility several years ago, officials said.

The new 33,500-square-foot building will have a large indoor swimming pool, locker rooms, and expanded parking and child-care facilities.

The indoor pool will allow the YMCA to give swimming classes year round. The additional space also will allow increased enrollment in the Y’s day-care and indoor basketball and soccer programs.

About 3,000 youths participate in the Y’s programs each year, and 200 families and 300 individuals have annual memberships, said George Saikali, executive director.

Membership fees will rise slightly when the new building opens in 1995. An individual membership that is now $16 monthly will go up to about $20, while families now paying about $20 monthly will pay $23 to $36, Saikali said.

YMCA supporters have already secured $3 million in pledges toward the $3.5 million cost of the new building. Operating the facility will cost about $1 million a year.

The land is owned by the city of Gardena, which bought the 3.3 acres from Caltrans for $1.4 million. In a lease purchase agreement approved by the Gardena City Council Tuesday night, the YMCA will pay the city $56,000 a year. Each January, the rent will be adjusted to equal the city’s rate of return if the city had invested the $1.4 million in an interest-earning fund. Once it pays off the $1.4 million, the YMCA can obtain title to the site.

Meanwhile, the city will help the YMCA sell its Redondo Beach Boulevard facility. If the YMCA has not sold the facility when the new one opens, the city will buy the old property for up to $2.5 million.