Arverne YMCA to Open in 2013

Long-delayed YMCA at Arverne by the Sea ready to open in 2013
The $22 million facility at Beach 73rd St. and Rockaway Beach Blvd. boasts largest swimming pool of any YMCA in the city
By Henrick Karoliszyn / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The long-delayed YMCA slated for the Arverne by the Sea housing development in the Rockaways is set to open in the summer of 2013, officials said Wednesday.

The 44,000-square-foot facility at Beach 73rd St. and Rockaway Beach Blvd. will house the largest aquatic center of any YMCA in the city, an outdoor multi-purpose sports field and a 6,500-square-foot gymnasium, officials said.

"It was a long and winding road," said YMCA of Greater New York CEO Jack Lund during a sneak peek of the site. "But this is real. It is happening."

The $22 million project, built on 2.2 acres of land, has faced challenges. Because it received over $10 million in city funding, a local law that took effect in 2007 required the site to be LEED certified — a measure of its environmental friendliness. That delayed the project.

Mayor Bloomberg had to sign a waiver last year to allow for the building to commence.

Elected officials on hand for a walk-through of the construction site on Wednesday praised the recreation center.

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said the YMCA would add to the resurgence of the Rockaways.

"When I first came to the Rockaways they were still struggling," she said. "This will bring it all together. It’s like the Hamptons West."

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) said the center would help revive the Rockaways.

"One word — nostalgia," Smith said. "Rockaway is a beachfront property that people from all over used to come to. What this says is that Rockaway is back. It’s a wonderful day."

Far Rockaway resident and former Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer said the YMCA will be a fitting touch to the Rockaway renaissance.

"This is something the community always wanted," said Pheffer, who represented the Rockaways as part of the 23rd Assembly District for over 14 years.

"This whole area has become the revitalization of not only the peninsula but of the city," said Pheffer, now the Queens County Clerk. "This will be the final piece of a whole strip of growth."