REACH Center offers something for everyone

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XENIA — The Xenia YMCA is taking a new shape — and it won’t just be the Y anymore.

What started as a chapter subsection in the X-Plan, a community-based vision for the future of Xenia, is now becoming a reality.

The Recreation, Education, Activity, Community, and Health (REACH) Center is intended to be an 80,000-square-foot shared building complex with spaces housing the Xenia YMCA facility, Xenia Adult Recreation and Services Center (Senior Center), Kettering Health Network, Clark State Community College and Central State University.

The future $17 million multi-generational facility will be located in the center of Greene County, offering easy access to residents not just in Xenia but from all over the county. It will replace the current Y on Church Street.

“It is going to be a really great thing for Xenia,” Nathan Hippenmeyer, marketing and communications director of the YMCA of Greater Dayton, said. “This is an exciting thing, a big thing to be a part of. A lot of residents are wanting something like this, and it is also great for people coming from Bellbrook, Beavercreek, and other communities.”

One REACH partner, Kettering Health Network, donated 35 acres where the center will sit on the corner of Progress Drive and Upper Bellbrook Road.

Partners — which also include the City of Xenia and the YMCA of Greater Dayton — are pursuing various funding sources for the new center, like capital campaigns, government set asides, new market tax credits and individual donations.

“A new centralized campus will play an important role in our efforts to develop Xenia and surrounding communities into a vibrant and highly desirable area to live,” said Xenia City Manager Brent Merriman.

More partners who share the vision of the REACH Center are welcomed to join the collaboration according to Dale Brunner, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Dayton, said.

Hippenmeyer announced June 28 that a capital community campaign has launched with the goal of raising $2.5 million to build new facilities at the REACH Center. Organized by the YMCA and Xenia Senior Center, the joint-fundraising effort marks the second stage of the project.

“Our hope is that in the winter of 2017 there is a shovel in the ground,” Hippenmeyer said.

When complete, the new facility will offer a common location to fulfill a variety of needs for diverse populations.

“[There’s going to be] so much for every group — for kids, for moms, for seniors, for college students — this is going to be a multi-generational, multi-functional campus with an accessible and convenient location for all of the local communities,” Hippenmeyer said.

The YMCA will boast an aquatics center with a six-lane competition pool and a warm-water therapy pool, a gymnasium, a suspended walking track, a fitness center with cardio and weight training equipment, a nursery and child waiting area, locker rooms, a classroom space, outdoor recreational facilities and more.

The new center will allow for new and expanded program opportunities, including outdoor sports programs, swim teams and swimming lessons, medically-based fitness programs and facility access to people with physical disabilities.

“This will really change the way you see the YMCA in Xenia — and really just what Xenia is capable of,” Hippenmeyer said. “Xenia is in a great stage for growth right now.”

In the new building, the Y is projected to serve 1,500 additional people, combining for a total projection of serving 6,000 individuals as members.

Many of these services and areas will be shared with and benefit partner organizations within the building.

According to Hippenmeyer, there will be a special focus on offering social work courses and community education and prevention around the opioid epidemic. Shared spaces, he said, will allow each organization to get the most of the center, cost-effectively.

These partners include Clark State Community College and Central State University, which will use the center as additional campuses.

Enrolled students will be able to take classes in all sorts of classrooms and laboratories, correlating with their areas of study — whether that is general education, workforce development, technical programs, business and industry training, medical assistant training, or IT technical training.

Central State will also use classrooms for its College Plus early college program and for parent and family early preparation seminars.

Kettering Health Network will take advantage of the new space, too, which will house offices, laboratory areas, and a possible pharmacy. Areas will be designated for physical and occupational therapy, medical imaging, cardiac rehab and possibly sports medicine.

A group of physicians and care givers will relocate to the new center, along with new providers, including specialists like OB/GYNs and pediatrics.

With a current membership of 700 individuals, the Xenia Senior Center, now located on Church Street, will find its new home at the REACH Center.

“We’re very excited about it. The seniors have been very positive about it from the very beginning,” Executive Director Judy Baker said.

One thing Baker is especially looking forward to is a commercial kitchen. The Senior Center delivered more than 30,000 home meals in 2015, and that number keeps increasing, despite inadequate kitchen space.

The center’s commercial kitchen will be used for the daily meal service, and Baker said they will also offer a full service cafe that will be open the public. They will also provide transportation program services for dialysis and chemo life sustaining support, adult daycare and Medicaid transportation for Job and Family Services.

“From the seniors’ viewpoint, it’s going to be a facility that we couldn’t have on our own now,” she said.

As a whole, the REACH Center could retain and add up to 165 full and part-time jobs to Xenia.

“We are getting a lot of support. The momentum is really positive,” Baker said.

To contribute to the campaign, visit www.ymcaonline.org/project-reach.html.

Submitted photos The Recreation, Education, Activity, Community, and Health (REACH) Center will offer services for children, adults, students, seniors, and families.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/06/web1_Family-at-the-Y.jpgSubmitted photos The Recreation, Education, Activity, Community, and Health (REACH) Center will offer services for children, adults, students, seniors, and families.

The 80,000-square-foot shared building complex will share design features with the Huber Heights YMCA, pictured. The future building will be located on the corner of Progress Drive and Upper Bellbrook Road in Xenia.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/06/web1_HuberHeights-Y3.jpgThe 80,000-square-foot shared building complex will share design features with the Huber Heights YMCA, pictured. The future building will be located on the corner of Progress Drive and Upper Bellbrook Road in Xenia.

An aquatics center, with a six lane competition pool and a warm water therapy pool, is one of many plans for the new center.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/06/web1_Pool3.jpgAn aquatics center, with a six lane competition pool and a warm water therapy pool, is one of many plans for the new center.

To donate to the REACH Center capital campaign, visit www.ymcaonline.org/project-reach.html.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/06/web1_Project-REACH-Capital-Campaign-Numbers-copy.jpgTo donate to the REACH Center capital campaign, visit www.ymcaonline.org/project-reach.html.

By Anna Bolton

[email protected]

Contact Anna Bolton at 937-502-4498.

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