From the Director
It’s been nearly five years since we opened the doors of the Bear Levin Studer Family YMCA in downtown Pensacola. Can you believe it? Five years! And just like your house may need updating every so often, our leadership has heard from you, our members, and decided it’s time to invest in renovating and refreshing our space.
Those of you who are regular, active members shouldn’t be surprised. Many of you have responded to our member survey by telling us where you’d like to see improvements. We’ve listened, and we’re ready to move forward with strategies to help alleviate crowding and improve the safety and quality of the Y experience for all.
Here’s a glimpse of what we have planned:
- The Lap Pool will be drained and completely replastered.
- The Spinning Room will move to the Activity Room downstairs, just next to the elevator entrance. We will renovate the space to provide a high-quality cycling experience, including all new bikes.
- The space previously occupied upstairs by Spinning will be opened up to expand area for functional training, floorwork and stretching.
- We will install a large exhaust fan and dehumidifier in the men’s locker room to counteract moisture issues and replace the metal lockers with plastic ones similar to the daily lockers in the downstairs hallways.
- We will remove the carpet upstairs between the gymnasium and the restrooms and replace it with rolled rubber flooring to match the rest of the Wellness Center.
- We will reinforce the gymnasium walls.
- We will re-grout the steam room and add built-in, tiled seating.
- In addition to these primary projects, our list includes wall repairs, fresh paint, deep cleaning, and other routine maintenance as needed.
To accomplish this level of renovation in a safe and efficient manner, we will need to close the branch in December for some time period to be determined. We are working with a project manager to schedule work simultaneously to minimize downtime and be fully re-opened in the new year.
Please stay posted to signage, social media, and email for updates. We know it will be a little messy and inconvenient in the short run, but the end result will be an updated and even better YMCA.