April 25, 2025
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Kiest family donates $500,000 to Ottawa YMCA capital campaign

Gym at new facility will be named in Kiest family’s honor

By Michael Urbanec

The Ottawa YMCA is announced a donation of $500,000 in sponsorship of its new facility scheduled to open in 2023. Gathered at the donation were (from left) former Ottawa Mayor Bob Eschbach, donors Karen Keist, her husband Larry, YMCA Board secretary Debbie Burns, YMCA Board Treasurer Phil Devermann, and YMCA Executive Director Joe Capece. When the new facility opens, the gymnasium will be named after the Kiest family. (Scott Anderson)

“We’re just giving back for the blessings we’ve been given through the years.”

—  Larry Kiest, owner and operator of LMK Pipe Renewal in Ottawa

The Ottawa YMCA is nearing its $6 million fundraising goal after a $500,000 from Larry and Karen Kiest.

Larry owns and operates LMK Pipe Renewal in Ottawa and grew up in town as a regular attendee at the YMCA.

“When I think about the Y, I really think about family,” Larry said. “When I was young, me and my sisters would come in and play basketball in the gymnasium. I was on the swim team.”

Larry said when he was contracted for work in the Cayman Islands, he came to the Ottawa YMCA after realizing he needed to learn how to dive.

The gymnasium at the new Healthy Living Campus that will be constructed along the Illinois River will be named in their honor.

“Karen and I don’t come from any wealth at all,” Larry said. “We have worked in Ottawa. I started as a plumber working with my dad when I was 17 and graduated from Marquette. I worked really hard, and God blessed us through the years and gave us an opportunity. We’re just giving back for the blessings we’ve been given through the years.”

This is the current gymnasium at the Ottawa YMCA. The building was built in 1956 and is outdated. The new facility's gymnasium will be dedicated in honor of the Kiest family through their donation of $500,000 to the Ottawa YMCA. The Kiest family is deeply rooted in Ottawa. (Scott Anderson)

Bob Eschbach, a member of the YMCA’s Board of Trustees, said Larry is quick to step up when donations are needed for local projects.

“It’s kind of a tradition with Larry,” Eschbach said. “When I was mayor, I remember looking for donations for the Lincoln-Douglas statues and debate plaza in Washington Square Park. Larry was our first major donation for that project.”

The new Ottawa YMCA will be located at the former location of Central School.

“I’m very excited to see the YMCA evolve with the needs of the community,” Karen said. “It’s most especially important to me to see the scholarship and grant programs that have gone on for years continue. I was, once upon a time, a single mom who had to make use of that for my kids, specifically the aftercare program.”

YMCA CEO Joe Capece said he’s hoping construction of the new facility can begin in the fall, and the new building is scheduled to be open by 2023.

The building will have an estimated cost of $20 million for a 65,000 square foot modern, full-service facility. After the Kiests’ donation, the project is about $1 million from its fundraising goal.

“This building will be transformational for this community,” Capece said. “There’s no doubt when you see this go up on the riverfront; it’s really going to be a big change.

The facility will include a natatorium with both a competition pool and a warm water therapy pool, group exercise studios, children adventure center, child watch areas, family locker rooms, and multi-generational spaces for seniors and teens, along with community gathering places similar to living rooms for people to meet and socialize. It will also house a community kitchen for healthy eating and designated clinical space for OSF, which is moving its rehabilitation and physical therapy services into the new building.

“We will do a full community launch at some point, which we have not done,” Capece said. “As you know, all of this has been kind of under the radar, dripping out little stuff here and there.”

The funding for this project has so far come from a series of donations and from what Capece called bridge financing from the USDA.

“When you do projects like this, you need bridge financing because all the pledges don’t come in at once,” Capece said. “You have the city commitment of $3 million over 10 years, so typically you do bridge financing to help you get through.”

Capece said bridge financing allows for favorable rates, but it has to be approved from state to national legislators. State Sen. Sue Rezin and Rep. Lance Yednock, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger and both Illinois’ U.S. senators have all been part of the process of getting approval.

Capece said the process for getting everything approved took about 18 months.

“Everybody sees this as quite the important project for Ottawa,” Capece said. “It’s going to be a tremendous thing for our whole service area, not just Ottawa. Marseilles, Utica to the west, up north to Mendota and south to Grand Ridge and beyond.”

Capece said YMCA board members still are reviewing what they plan on doing with the building the organization is currently in, which was built in 1956.