A proposed $19-million YMCA would not only revitalize the Y’s programs and services in Barrie, but it could revitalize the old Allandale station site and the city’s waterfront, says the Y’s CEO Tom Coon.
The Y revealed details of its bid in the city’s competition to redevelop the nine-acre site that features the Allandale station; the city’s competition for Expressions of Interest closed Friday at 4:30 p.m.
“In the truest sense of the word, it would be a community use. We’d be bringing a lot of different people there. As much as it’s good for us, it would be good for the city and hopefully, it would spur other community development in the area,” said Coon, who has worked with other municipalities to redevelop YMCAs in Markham, Brampton and Oshawa.
“We’ll bring child care, youth outreach, employment programs, and our newcomer services there,” he said, as well as the Y’s respected fitness and child-care programs.
“It’s really all about the aspects of the Y being in one location. It would be almost like a one-stop shop for the different things we offer the community. It truly makes it a community place and geographically, it’s much more central. It would be a great addition to the whole issue of downtown revitalization and waterfront development. It keeps the site publicly accessible.”
The architectural vision for the proposed 70,000-square-foot Y by the Bay uses windows to connect the Y to the waterfront; from the indoor pool, fitness and public areas, visitors can see not only downtown but the waterfront. A virtual tour of the proposed Y can be found online by clicking the link provided.
The new design also looks to connect Barrie’s future to Allandale’s past; it was almost 100 years ago when Barrie’s first YMCA opened in what’s now Shutters Restaurant, only steps from the train station.
The proposal would also allow the Y to serve residents in the city’s southeast and southwest – people now who are not using the Y, said Coon. At the same time, it could also enable the city to defer or phase construction of a proposed recreation centre in Painswick.
“It would be a great complement to the city’s architecture. It would bring people into the new city centre, and it would allow us to double the number of people we serve in terms of fitness, child care, youth development and newcomer services. Parents could drop their kids off for child care and get on the GO train knowing their kids are safe. We’re very excited about this and think the community will get excited about it,” said Coon.
Barrie received five proposals, and senior real estate officer Peter Dyck said they offer a variety of visions for what the city considers a strategic site.
“We have a pretty wide range, everything form community-driven to more-commercially oriented and some in-between,” said Dyck.
“The city has a vision of what we’d like to see there, but we’re not at the point where we want to dictate. We wanted a wide range of ideas.”
He could not release details about any of the projects, but said that city staff are reviewing the possibilities, and a report will subsequently go to council.
