After being closed for more than a year and undergoing the first phase of a $26 million renovation, the historic Allegheny YMCA will reopen to the public today.
Visitors to the longtime neighborhood landmark on North Avenue will see accessibility upgrades, such as two new elevators and an entrance accessible to wheelchairs, as well as renovated locker rooms and all-new gym equipment.
“I think there’s enough [changes] that do jump out at you that [you’ll] walk in and say, ‘Wow, what a change. What a beautiful space,’” said Michele Charmello, executive director of the Allegheny YMCA.
Katie Blackley
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90.5 WESA
A historic YMCA logo is on the floor of the gym in the Allegheny Y in Pittsburgh’s North Side.
The storied building also received less visible — but still crucial — improvements such as a major security upgrade, air conditioning, updated plumbing, and a new boiler.
A soft opening for existing members was last week.
Maintaining the historic charm of the century-old structure was key, Charmello said.
Inside the North Avenue entrance is a refurbished, original plaster mantlepiece that previously was damaged and decaying. A nearby wall preserves what had been the floor of an upstairs duckpin bowling alley (that space will soon be a child care area). The large, arched, historic windows on the building’s lower floors have been preserved and refurbished, as has the quirky “log cabin room.”
A newly-remodeled area can be used for medical exams for the building’s residents, through a partnership with Allegheny Health Network.
Still being worked on: the building’s pool is scheduled to reopen later this spring, along with child care spaces and an upstairs gym. Outside of summer camp programs, child care was not previously offered at this location.
Katie Blackley
/
90.5 WESA
The pool should reopen later this spring, with a new liner.
The Y is also pondering other potential offerings for the new space, such as community lectures.
“ First and foremost, we want to meet the needs of the community,” Charmello said.
There are still ongoing renovations for the housing units upstairs for single men; the more than 80 affordable single room occupancy units are being renovated one floor at a time so no residents are displaced during the work.
Single room occupancy housing varies from building to building, but the units are typically dormitory-style housing, where residents have their own bed and room but often share bathrooms, a communal kitchen or other spaces. Tenants are usually single adults and can live there for a few months or many years.