Published: August 26, 2008 12:48 am            

YMCA PROJECT: First Niagara donating $250K to expansion campaign

First Niagara Bank is contributing $250,000 to Lockport Family YMCA’s branch expansion campaign.

The gift will be acknowledged by YMCA executives and a group of Y daycampers this morning at First Niagara’s East Avenue branch office.

YMCA is in the midst of raising $9.5 million to finance construction of a 68,000-square-foot branch facility on Snyder Drive in the Town of Lockport. YMCA leadership has pitched the branch as a vehicle for improving overall Y services and increasing the organization’s membership.

Construction of a branch facility will enable the Y to also improve services at the “north branch” facility on East Avenue, YMCA Member Services Director Peggy Allen said.

The bank’s gift to the Y campaign is “a significant investment in the future,” First Niagara Regional President Daniel E. Cantara said.

YMCA kicked off its south branch building campaign in September 2005. The estimated cost of the indoor-outdoor recreation facility is $11.5 million; $2 million was contributed by the Y board of trustees, and the remainder is to be raised from foundations, civic organizations and, at the tail end of the campaign, the public.

The campaign remains in the “lead donor” phase until 70 percent, $6.7 million, has been raised from foundations, according to Allen. It’s not there yet, she said Monday.

“It’s been a slow process but it’s definitely going in the right direction. It’s starting to look good,” she said. “It’s definitely happening, it’s just a project that’s going to take time.”

The Y purchased 31 acres on Snyder Drive in 2001 for the south branch facility. Plans call for the facility to house an array of recreation fields and member amenities, from two pools and three gyms to a teen center, a wellness center, a community room and ballfields, courts and a track.

An additional branch would free up space at the downtown branch for programming and pure recreation, Y Executive Director Mark Albiez has said. Currently, there is no room at the 81-year-old East Avenue branch for open recreation because leagues and lessons occupy floor and pool space continuously.

Allen said the Y’s construction timeline calls for the south branch facility to be built in 2010 and downtown branch renovations to take place between 2010 and 2012.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.

        

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