Callahan, Inc. is providing construction management services for the new South Shore YMCA on Coddington St. The new $25 million facility will be 118,000 s/f total, with a two-floor 88,000 s/f main building and an attached 30,000 s/f athletic center.
The new facility will offer the 20,000 adults and children who are active with the South Shore YMCA more than double the usable space available in the current facility. The first floor of the new main building will feature a café, community rooms and an eight-classroom early learning center with an outdoor playground and a separate entrance and parking. The new aquatics center will include a six-lane, 25-yard pool as well as a family fun pool, steam rooms and sauna. A health and well-being center and group exercise classrooms will be located on the second floor. The athletic center will feature a state-of-the art Field House including two full size gymnasiums, a turf field, and a suspended 200 meter indoor track for both walking and running. Once complete, the new facility will house the largest swimming pool and indoor track available to the public in the region.
The YMCA decided to build a new facility after the current facility no longer allowed them to fully meet their mission. Escalating repair and maintenance costs made the current location, which was built in the early-1950s, financially unsustainable and no longer adequate for the increased demands of the growing community. The current facility also limits their ability to offer new or expanded programs for Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility for youth, families and seniors. In order to serve the community, including helping those with developmental and physical disabilities, as well as an expanding senior population, the Y determined that the construction of a more modern and larger facility would be the most efficient and productive step.
Groundbreaking for the new facility took place on April 30, 2012 at the corner of Coddington and Sea Sts. YMCA board members, city councilors, the mayor of Quincy along with Callahan, Inc. were on hand for the festivities. Speaking to the audience, Dan Demarco, chairman of the South Shore YMCA said, "I can pretty much guarantee you that a year and a half from now, when people are walking through these front doors, they're going to have an experience that is going to be one of the top Y experiences in the entire country."
"It's going to have facilities inside it that no one can even dream of, or perhaps haven't dreamt of," said Mark Dickinson, a developer who headed the Y's building committee.
"We intend to make this an 18-hour-a-day facility serving the entire community," said Dickinson. "Callahan is proud to be a part of the South Shore YMCA team. We look forward to building an outstanding facility that will provide years of enrichment to the city of Quincy and the South Shore."
Site work began on the project in May of 2012. The site work includes new parking areas, a vehicular drop-off area adjacent to the main building entrance, pedestrian sidewalks, crosswalks and accessible ramps, a rear building service area with loading dock and waste disposal/recycling enclosure and significant site and perimeter landscaping and screening design.
Building construction began in January of this year. A structural frame topping off ceremony took place on May 21. Callahan, Inc. developed a phased construction plan that allows the YMCA to keep the adjacent existing facility open & in use, while new facility being constructed. The project is scheduled for completion in December.