Newport Beach YMCA campus plans major overhaul to include senior housing

The YMCA of Orange County is looking to transform its four-acre plot in Newport Beach into an ambitious integrated hub that includes senior housing.

Last month, the YMCA of OC filed preliminary development plans with the city that would nearly triple the campus’ size. The organization also launched a website detailing plans for what it is calling the “Newport Hub” project.

“We paused and looked at what our community really needs,” said Anna Romiti, a chief spokesperson for the YMCA of OC. “When you look around, a major thing that we’re seeing is disconnection and a lack of true, genuine community.”

With an increasingly aging population in the county, the hub would have a 105-unit multi-family apartment building, dubbed the Perch Residences, on its campus that would be open to adults 55 and older. Twenty units would be affordable in accordance with the state’s density bonus law.

Given a defined goal of “redefining what aging looks like in OC,” the hub’s senior housing would be coupled with programs and services like a community room and spa.

As the Newport-Mesa Family YMCA at 2300 University Drive is adjacent to the Back Bay nature preserve, the organization is also looking to take full advantage of its location.

“We very much want to be embedded into the Back Bay,” Romiti said. “We want to bring nature in and feed out into the nature preserve with programs, views and access from our facility, as well.”

In addition to housing, the YMCA of OC wants to revamp its core facility, which currently is a two-story building with a fitness center and a pool.

Early plans call for an overhaul to include a year-round aquatics center, gymnasium and a café.

The project represents a return to the YMCA’s roots in a way where it provided housing, especially to veterans, as part of its past mission.

But the hub project in Newport Beach is also unique in what it proposes for O.C. as the organization continues to evolve.

The YMCA of OC owns the land. It is planning to cover the costs of the planned expansion through fundraising and financing without asking for Newport Beach to plug any funding gaps.

An estimated cost of the overhaul is not available at this time, according to Romiti.

Newport Beach identified the Newport-Mesa Family YMCA campus as a potential housing site in a housing element plan passed by City Council in 2024.

The YMCA of OC is currently awaiting city review of the development application it filed in December. If approved, officials hope the project will be shovel-ready by the end of the year. Construction is expected to take between 18 and 22 months to complete.

For Romiti, the hub presents an opportunity to build an intergenerational and integrated community.

“We have active older adults as members and we will have them as residents,” she said, “But we also have a large population of families, young adults and youth. We’re going to be able to bring them together and create intentional opportunities where there’s interaction, learning and gathering.”