Plans for a new Somerville YMCA with attached affordable housing got a warm reception Wednesday at the last of two neighborhood meetings before a formal city process. On the path to permitting, the project goes next to zoning and planning boards.
Those preliminaries may take another year, leading to 20 to 30 months of construction based on early estimates, said Vladimir Benoit, executive director and chief executive of the Y. Core programs are expected to continue at other locations during construction, though there will be no access to a pool in that period.
“This project is more than about a building. It’s about ensuring the Y continues to be a place for the entire Somerville community,” Benoit said. “We have a responsibility to look forward” for a building that’s more than 120 years old – and that was deemed in need of replacement as long ago as 1963.
The $175 million project of more than 130,000 square feet, to be paid for with philanthropy and grants, has been in the works for three years already at 97-107 Highland Ave. and 136 School St. “When the project first started, the Y was actually looking to see if this was the best location,” said David Kadish, of the Stantec engineering and architecture firm. Considering the nearby green line MBTA stop, Community Path, City Hall, library and playgrounds, “it just made the most sense to stay.”
That’s despite perhaps the biggest change since the project had its first neighborhood meeting on Jan. 6, 2025: The refusal of the family at 95 Highland Ave. to sell their house so the land could be added to the YMCA land. Now the project will wrap around the corner house.
The current Y building is 29,696 square feet. The expansion is expected to bring “significant growth” in staffing, Benoit said. “It wouldn’t be unrealistic to think that the staffing may grow three times what it currently is.”
When the broad blocks of the new, six-story building is up, emphasizing glass on the ground floors and bronzed tiers of terra cotta brick and metal panels on upper floors, there will be much more inside, on the roof and underneath.
The YMCA
Plans include an a full modern fitness center including aerobics rooms, free weights and gear such as treadmills; an Aquatic Center with a warming pool and children’s splash pad in addition to a 25-meter, six-lane pool; a full basketball court and a track on which “you no longer have to run 39 laps to get to a mile,” Kadish said. “This one’s about 15.” There’s a second track coming to the roof (with 10 laps to a mile and “great views”) and a multisport court for pickleball, soccer or yoga amid “maybe a small garden, but definitely some greenery.”
Residents have pushed to keep spa functions such a steam room and sauna, though a float tub is being considered. “We’re not afraid to step out and explore some new possibilities,” Benoit said. YMCA member Steve Wadlow asked during the meeting if the facility’s cold plunge would stay. “You’ll get a very strong pushback if that goes away, from many people,” Wadlow said.
The brought some amusement – or bemusement – to the panel. “We know it’s a popular item. I don’t understand why, but it is,” attorney Adam Dash said.
“We’re trying to fit, really, 20 pounds in a 5-pound bag, and there’s a lot of competing priorities,” Benoit said. “There’s just a lot of challenges on this site.”
Community spaces such as classrooms and computer labs are part of the plan. It’s unlikely there will be a children’s playground added, but a virtue of staying at the current location is that Y program staff can keep doing what they already do, Benoit said: When the weather is nice, walk kids a few hundred feet to the Central Hill park areas.
The new building will have 120 parking spaces underground for employees and members of the Y. Street parking in front of the building will remain, Kadish said.
Affordable housing
The attached affordable housing will grow to seven stories and to 60 apartments from 40.
“We’re really excited about the improvements we’ll be able to provide,” Kadish said. Instead of a single-room occupancy approach in which apartments share a kitchen and bathrooms, each unit gets their own, and landscaping with seating and outdoor program space is included.
Residents of the housing will be served by an expanded and improved small healthy-food store on the ground level, something now run out of the main building lobby. Resident and Y member Diana Marsh wrote in to suggest that the new facilities include a small cafe and asked if current thinking were to allow the general public to buy groceries or to get a snack or light meal within.
The panel couldn’t give a firm answer, but Benoit said planners were conscious of widespread food insecurity and open to the idea of helping.
“There’s a significant need to try to really make things just a lot more affordable and accessible for our residents,” Benoit said.
As the meeting neared its end, resident Jen Harrington added a comment to the questions.
“I go to a ton of development meetings, and this is the first one where I feel like the neighborhood was respected,” Harrington said. “I’m excited for future residents of this building. I’m super excited that there’ll be more affordable housing in my neighborhood. Just mad compliments all around.”