Simcoe County council is chipping in $5 million toward the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka’s new multi-use facility in south-end Barrie.
The funding is part of county council’s $962-million 2025 budget, which was approved Nov. 26.
This $5 million in capital funding includes the original $2.5 million, approved by county council in 2019, plus an additional $2.5 million, due to inflationary considerations and increased construction costs since then.
The new Y facility is to include transitional housing for youth and enabling the leadership of a multicultural centre in partnership with the Simcoe County Local Immigration Partnership.
The $5 million will be paid in instalments that coincide with continued construction progress: $500,000 in 2024, $1.5 million in 2025 and $3 million in 2027 upon completion of construction.
The project has already received $29.9 million in construction funding from the province and a 50-year land lease, at $2 a year, from the City of Barrie.
The YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka Regional Hub, to be a 77,000-square-foot facility, will be built near Sadlon Arena at 535 Bayview Dr., replacing the now-demolished Grove Street facility, which was sold in 2020 and is being developed as residences.
Sky Towers is constructing a highrise development there of two towers for 541 rental apartments, at 22 and 26 Grove St. W., the former YMCA site, near Bayfield Street and Highway 400.
The new Y facility will also include licensed child care, youth and newcomer services, an accessible indoor playground, community meeting spaces, an inter-generational hub, as well as a health/fitness and aquatics centre.
It will also be home to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre’s cardiovascular rehabilitation program and will be delivering cancer rehabilitation programs in partnership with the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre.
The projected budget for the new Y facility in 2019 was $36.5 million, however due to rising construction costs and unforeseen expenses, the total has now exceeded more than $60 million, which equates to a construction cost of more than $5 million for youth transitional housing.
Infrastructure funding is expected to be available at the federal level to support child-care expansion.
The goal is to break ground on the new site in early 2025. With the provincial grant, the new facility will need to be substantially complete by the end of March 2027 and the goal is to open the doors by late summer, early fall of that year.
