EVERETT — The YMCA of Snohomish County is now about halfway to its fundraising goal for its new Everett location.
The YMCA has been seeking out large philanthropic donations as part of the quiet period of a capital campaign.
That has brought in about $6 million of a planned $12 million fundraising target, CEO Scott Washburn said.
“We won’t go out into the broader community yet,” Washburn said. That typically happens in the same year as construction. “We’re still looking for some six- and seven-figure gifts.”
If all goes according to plan, construction on the new Everett location will begin in the summer of 2018, and it will open in the fall of 2019.
The new building is estimated to cost about $25 million. The balance of the cost would be made up with a combination of debt, cash on hand, and the proceeds of selling the YMCA’s current building.
The YMCA also raised $1.4 million in its 2016 annual drive, an all-time record for the organization.
The main YMCA building downtown is nearly a century old, and parts of it are inaccessible to people with disabilities. The new building will be smaller, but it will have the ability to more than double the number of people it serves.
The old 100,000-square-foot facility can only serve about 12,700 people per year with all its programs.
It’s the largest facility with the smallest number of individual and family memberships — 2,100 — of all the YMCA’s locations in Snohomish County, including the new Stanwood/Camano location.
A new facility would be smaller but a more efficient use of space, Washburn said, and is expected to have enough room to serve more than 32,000 people per year. That accounts for about 5,500 memberships, plus nonmembers who participate in various programs.
Some of the increased traffic could come from relocating Big Brothers Big Sisters of Snohomish County into the new YMCA building.
Big Brothers merged with the local YMCA chapter in 2001, but its offices have remained physically separate, even while some of the Big Brothers programs have made use of the Y’s facilities.
“The advantage is to have littles come in and use the Y and that’s where the intake would be,” Washburn said.
The YMCA has been issued a special use permit by the city to build on the property at 4730 Colby Ave. that formerly housed one of the school district’s administration buildings.
The organization bought the 8.1-acre property in 2015 for $3.3 million. The current buildings, a former elementary school, have to be demolished before construction starts.
The Stanwood/Camano branch of the YMCA opened its doors in September 2016 and has sold 3,273 individual and family memberships.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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