Over the past year, the Ipswich YMCA has announced plans for a new multi-million dollar expansion. The expansion is phase two of a huge project at the Y. The current YMCA is only designed to hold about 3,000- 4,000 members, and they currently have 5,100 members, greatly exceeding their limit. Due to the necessity of more space, the Y has plans to upgrade the foundation and to improve both the outside and inside.

The Y is adding all kinds of new things in the expansion, such as the outdoor pool. The Y is already moving ground, and they have plans to add a huge splash park. There’s going to be a pool, which will be L shaped, that will have three twenty-five yard lap lanes. There will be a 2,600 square foot splash ground to play in, that is surrounded by a climbing wall and ropes over the water. With a new splash park, it could help bring in a lot of people to the local YMCA. Peter Pappas, an IHS student, said, “It’s going to be a popular place to go, hopefully bringing in more tourists. Also now I can continue going on my Saturday swim, but also in the splash park!”  There is also going to be a brand new cafe, and the park will have slides and ramps going into the water. The ramp, which isn’t guaranteed yet, could be wheelchair accessible.

The Y has had these plans for some time now. They announced it early this year year on January 5th and have been fundraising in hopes of earning money for this expansion. Having fundraised since last labor day weekend, they managed to get 3.6 million dollars for the expansion pretty quickly. After fundraising, they got a 1.5 million dollar donation from the Institution for Savings Bank and also a generous $500,000 donation from one local family. With them getting closer to their goal  amount, their fundraising was a huge success. Merri Lynn Lathrop, the Associate Executive Director of the YMCA knows everything about the new expansion.

The YMCA already has plans for another expansion in the near future for a phase III. They could be placing a huge roof over the splash park that they are creating now to make the park a year amenity. When asking her why the expansion needed to happen, she replied, “We want to support the community. We have outgrown the older building and the community needs a bigger Y, a change to it.” Also the pool is going to have a circuit system to help filter the water. The water gets filtered so it’s always nice and clean. It’s going to have a special diffusion valve, for when the park isn’t getting used, that is going to help give back to nature. Solar panels might be getting put in to help keep it solar friendly, but it’s not guaranteed yet.

The YMCA is also going to have major improvements to the inside. There’s going to be two new multi-purpose classrooms, a teen room, and for other types of specialty classes. The current locker rooms are going to be converted into boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, and they are going to create new adult locker rooms. Along with that, they’re going to add some type of sauna/steam facility. For the elders in our community, there’s going to be a new therapeutic spa that’s going to be built into the deck of the indoor pool.

When interviewing Kyle Walker, a current member/employee of the Y, he stated that he likes the plans for the new expansion. Asking what his thought’s on the new expansion are and what he does at the Y, he replied, “The expansion’s going to be great. It’s going to be a great addition to the Y, and the Ipswich community. It’s going to be a great place for kids to hangout. And I do volunteer service at the Y for school three days a week, mainly doing maintenance but also helping out the sport’s program, so it’s going to be great to see all the improvements they make.” The new plans for the extension have been a success; now it’s just time to wait for the construction all to be over, which is planned to hopefully be done by next May.

Ipswich YMCA is hiring now! Interested just call them at 978-356-9622.