Ottawa YMCA groundbreaking signifies beginning of riverfront development

Construction on the $25.7 million, 67,000-square-foot riverfront YMCA in Ottawa will begin soon after donors, community partners and board members broke ground Tuesday morning.

The process for creating this space began nearly five years ago to the day: Board member Konni Rodeghier told the crowd the journey began when they hired Joe Capece as CEO with the request he work toward building a new YMCA.

“He said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Rodeghier said. “Let’s get to work.”

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Ottawa YMCA board members, politicians, donors and other guests of honor shovel dirt for the Ottawa YMCA groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, in Ottawa. (Scott Anderson - sanderson@shawmedia.com)

Rodeghier said the path began with Capece’s hiring and continued with bringing the organization’s finances in order. The YMCA’s 24-person board conducted a market study in 2018 that showed the Ottawa community had a need for programming for teens and seniors.

The amenities planned for the new building reflect that: It will have a community living room available for everyone, even nonmembers of the YMCA. Additionally, it will have a chapel, a natatorium with a competition pool and a warm water therapy pool, a kids’ adventure center, play and child watch areas, a walking and jogging track that overlooks the gymnasium and wellness area, multigenerational spaces that will provide areas for people of all ages to interact, a multipurpose room, a community demonstration kitchen for healthy eating, group exercise studios, locker rooms, a health and wellness center and clinical space for OSF HealthCare.

“That trip was important because we saw what we could have and that was three and a half years ago,” Rodeghier said. “Terminology started floating around: New market tax credits, capital stack, health care partnerships and healthy living campus. We knew what we wanted.”

The capital stack is where the majority of the funding for the project originated, and refers to the many different forms of funding that combine to pay for the project.

Capece said the YMCA has one of the most complex capital stacks, using funding from community and corporate donations, the Rebuild Illinois grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and a low-interest loan from the USDA, and the New Market Tax Credit.

The New Market Tax Credit program, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury website, incentivizes community development and growth in distressed communities. Capece said it required the YMCA to address unemployment, economic development, revitalize a brownfield and have partnerships.

“I get calls all the time from other states about how we did that deal with the USDA and they’re so very proud of this,” Capece said. “We’re very proud to work with you guys and I can’t thank you enough for your dedication and support.”

Rodeghier said support from state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) and Rep. Lance Yednock (D-Ottawa) also has been helpful in moving the project forward. Both were in attendance Tuesday morning.

“I know they talk about it taking a long time to get to this point, but I look at the magnitude of this project and I say less than five years is a pretty short time from start to finish,” Rezin said. “Today is extremely exciting as we move one step closer to make the wise vision for a Healthy Living Campus a reality.”

Yednock said the new YMCA will be asset to the Starved Rock region and he’s honored to be there as a small part of the development that helped secure infrastructure funds for the project.

“I’m very happy to see that the local labor force will be involved in this project, as they’re going to be the members of the future,” Yednock said. “Knowing we’ll have a brand new YMCA community center after years spent at the current location fighting floods and aging infrastructure is a dream for the community.”

Capece said this project began under former mayor Bob Eschbach, who has been helping raise funds for the project and it has continued “without missing a beat” under Mayor Dan Aussem.

Aussem said he remembers filling sandbags at Central School in 2008 when it flooded, forcing the school to move to Ottawa’s South Side. The city purchased the property in 2012 and the buildings were demolished.

“A new riverfront was dreamed about,” Aussem said. “We had environmental issues and deed restrictions to resolve and finally the YMCA stepped up and purchased a piece of property to build an amazing new facility.”

Aussem said the facility will spur economic development throughout the rest of the city and the waterfront.

Eschbach said the city purchased the property with the intention of building a community center of some sort, but at the time, officials didn’t know exactly how that would happen.

“We thought that project might be the last to be developed but it turned out to be the first because of the YMCA,” Eschbach said.

Eschbach was part of a group tasked with getting donations from the community along with Luke Caruso and Debbie Burns. They were able to raise more than $6 million.

Caruso shared the story of one such donation.

“Roger Hustis was a lifelong resident of Marseilles,” Caruso said. “In 2019, he retired from Ottawa Dental Laboratory after 40 years of service. Last year about this time, Roger and I were having lunch and we got into talking about things. The YMCA came up and Roger shared with me that when he was a little guy, he really enjoyed coming over to Ottawa to go to the Y.”

Caruso said Hustis met him over lunch again in the spring and handed him an envelope with a $10,000 donation.

Hustis died unexpectedly on Sept. 15 at age 63.

“A few days after his death, someone from Marseilles Bank showed up and handed Joe Capece a check for $201,000,” Caruso said. “I only wish that Roger could be here for this moment. It’s really very, very special. I thank you all for your support. Make this dream become a reality.”

Capece said construction on the YMCA is expected to be done within the next 18 months, although that’s only an estimate.