Neighbors won't sell home, so a new Somerville YMCA complex will be built around them
A $175 million new YMCA complex is coming to Somerville, Massachusetts. When the project is complete it will surround and tower over a house where the residents are determined to stay in the home their family has owned for decades.
Somerville YMCA CEO Vladimir Benoit grew up in the city, going to the 120-year-old "Y". He says it's well past time for a new community center, even if the neighbors don't want to budge.
120-year-old Somerville YMCA building
According to Benoit, the current building no longer meets the community's needs. There are cramped affordable housing units, a pool too small for swim teams to practice in, and a basketball court not big enough to shoot corner jump shots.
"You're talking about a population of 80,000 people in a four-mile radius. They deserve a state-of-the-art community center," Benoit said.
The YMCA is pushing forward on a proposal for a new complex that is still a few years from fruition. Right now, the board is in the planning phase. The roughly $175 milllion project would be funded by local and federal grants on top of philanthropic donations.
The new YMCA facility
The result will be two separate, abutting building, Benoit explained. "One the affordable housing, which we're planning to deliver about 60 units, and then the other's the new construction of a new YMCA facility."
The plan would knock down the existing 120-year-old brick YMCA building, a nearby building that houses early childhood education programs and another property behind the parking lot.
What the future facility will surround is a home that, for years, the YMCA has tried to purchase.
Family offered more than $1M over assessed value
"We've asked them, what's your number? We want to work with them," Benoit said.
Benoit says they've offered the couple more than $1 million over the assessed value so they can utilize the space in their design. But for decades, the same family has owned the two-story home, and they don't want to sell.
The homeowners' daughter told The Boston Globe that her parents' preference "remains to continue living in the home they have cared for and cherished, for more than four decades."
"Continue to be good neighbors"
"They love the community that they're in and, again, they have every right to be there and we're just going to continue to be good neighbors with them," Benoit said.
If the project moves forward as proposed, the home would be surrounded by the new development. However, Benoit left the door open to working with the couple in the future.
"The Y saved my life and I've seen it, obviously firsthand, the way it's able to change lives," Benoit said. "I know with this project and the more people we'll be able to serve and deliver on a variety of escalating community needs, it's more important than ever that the community continues to rally and support these efforts."
