Construction Crews Pool Talent For New Ymca Swimming Areas

Thu., May 6, 1999

By Marny Lombard marnyl@spokesman.com (509) 927-2166

Construction crews are starting work on the two pools in the Valley YMCA at Mirabeau Point.

Chip-board forms outline the shapes of the pools. Stacks of concrete block sit off to one side of the site.

“It’s hard to see what’s happening, because it isn’t hardly out of the ground yet,” said Bill Haworth, general superintendent of the project for general contractor Goebel Construction.

From a distance, the most obvious progress on Mirabeau Point is the continuing roadwork. Crews are extending Mirabeau Parkway to Indiana Avenue and improving the Union Pacific Railroad crossing. Further north on Mirabeau Parkway, top soil has been filled into the median, and sidewalks give the street a somewhat non-Valley feel.

The main road, connecting Euclid to Indiana, is expected to be completed by the end of July.

Roadwork is also continuing on Discovery Place, the cul-de-sac on which the YMCA will be located.

Work on the north exterior wall of the YMCA project will start next week, Haworth said. The southern end of the center, where the pools are, won’t have its walls started until the pool work and the foundation work is complete.

Haworth predicted it will be a few weeks before passing drivers on Interstate 90 will be able to notice the Y construction.

“It’s going to be a neat building. They’ve got some neat stuff in here,” he said. “I might even buy a membership myself.”

Finish work on the building is expected to begin by the end of the summer, with the whole project headed for completion by the end of the year.

The $6 million YMCA will include two pools, saunas, a gymnasium, a climbing wall, and a child-care room.

A bit to the northeast of the YMCA site, the old Wheelabrator building is being torn down. It did not fit in with Mirabeau plans, which include a senior citizen center, a youth center handicapped access park, and other amenities.

Mirabeau Point’s board of trustees plans to unveil an updated site plan in about two weeks, said Mirabeau board president Greg Bever.

The YMCA, which has sold about 30 memberships so far, will start a Valley Y membership promotion later this month.

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