A plan for a new Downtown Hamilton YMCA facility looks set to move forward, with the federal government committing $25 million towards the project.
The new YMCA would be located within a 600+ unit residential development.
Toronto-based development company Collecdev-Markee is working in partnership with the YMCA, Markland Property Management, and St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church to build two 32-storey towers on a downtown parking lot.
The property will be located at 20 Jackson Street West and 21 Main Street West.
The YMCA entrance would be on Main Street, beside the BDC building and near Hamilton City Hall.
The space would replace the YMCA location at 9 Jackson Street East, which the organization would look to sell in order to help fund the new space.
The new 55,000-square-foot YMCA is estimated to have a final cost of $70 million.
The new residential units in the 32-storey towers would reportedly be affordable co-op units.
In co-op housing, each resident is a shareholder in the corporation that owns the building.
Residents have to buy shares, are granted voting rights, and have to pay for maintenance.
St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church is contributing a small portion of their property for the development.
The Carney-led Liberals released their budget on Nov. 4, and it includes a deficit of $78.3 billion for this year.
The budget mentioned Hamilton’s YMCA, but did not initially include a dollar figure on the amount of federal funding.
However, on Nov. 8, various Liberal Ministers and Members of Parliament held a press conference formally announcing up to $25 million in federal funding as part of the Build Communities Strong Fund.
Manny Figueiredo, the President and CEO of YMCA Hamilton, said in a press release, “The new Hamilton Downtown Family YMCA will be a place where people come together to connect, learn and thrive. It will be a modern, inclusive Centre of Community that reflects Hamilton’s strength and spirit.”
“This project is about creating the conditions for everyone to belong and succeed.”
He also added that they are “looking forward to continuing conversations with the federal government and other partners” to move the project ahead.
The building will be mixed-use and include YMCA’s childcare, a youth newcomer centre, an aquatics facility, health and fitness amenities, and immigration and employment services.
Despite the $25 million in funding for the YMCA, the Liberal budget has been heavily criticized, particularly by Conservative Members of Parliament.
Local Member of Parliament Dan Muys, who represents the riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook–Brant North, said in an interview with The Hamilton Independent that while funding for the YMCA is a “good thing,” the budget does not do much else.
“The budget does nothing to address the crushing affordability crisis facing Canadians,” he said.
“There is no reduction in taxes on food, such as the industrial carbon tax borne by farmers and production of food, the packaging tax, which is a $5.6 billion tax grab added to the cost of food or the labelling costs being added.”
Muys said that the Carney Liberals are “spending a lot of money with little to show for it.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
