Five years after Durham rallied to keep the Lakewood YMCA from closing, its future is now.
The Y hosts a Grand Reopening Saturday morning, following an $8-million renovation of its 46-year-old building.
Festivities run from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., including building tours, fitness classes and a raffle for a Y membership. Saturday's event is largely ceremonial, since the building actually reopened in January.
Residents of the adjoining Tuscaloosa-Lakewood and Long Meadow neighborhoods and Y members organized a save-the-Y campaign when YMCA of the Triangle proposed closing the Lakewood facility. At the time, it was in a state of disrepair and running a $400,000 annual deficit, according to YMCA of the Triangle.
Opponents of closing claimed that loss of the Lakewood Y would leave a "void" in the neighborhood and deprive Durham of a singular place where residents met and socialized without regard to class or color.
After 18 months of meetings and negotiations, Durham County bought the 57,350-square foot building at 2119 Chapel Hill Road and its 7.4-acre grounds. After renovation, part of the building was put to use for the Lakewood Montessori Middle School and the rest, about 18,000 square feet, leased back to the YMCA.
The Y put $850,000 of its own into the renovations, along with the county's $8 million.
