What is happening?

The Margaret Maddox Family YMCA has begun the process of switching the uses of several of our rooms to hopefully address several of the capacity-related challenges and desires our members have expressed in recent months—including but not limited to additional wellness space. 

While all this moving may result in brief, temporary closures of a particular room or feature, the center will remain open as staff complete all the work.

What’s changing and when?

Phase 1 

Please don’t hesitate to ask a staff member for assistance if you have any trouble locating any of our spaces or services in their new homes.

Phase 2 (Date to be Determined)

Once the first phase of moves is completed, we’ll be updating flooring and other features in the rooms left vacant in order to prepare for the remaining relocations, which will include: 

• The TRX room across from the gym will become the Teen Area. This hallway has become the natural gathering space for youth because the Gym is their most frequently used amenity, so we’ll create a dedicated space for them in the area where they’re already congregating. 
• Both levels of the Teen/Senior Center (currently housing Y-Play, YAC, social spaces) will become a second wellness area with additional equipment, including a LifeFitness HD Athletic Rig with Monkey Bars. The equipment currently scattered throughout several rooms on the main level (rowing, etc.) will also be moved to this new wellness area. If we are to accommodate requests for additional wellness equipment, this is the most suitable space to do it, within our existing footprint, short of a facility expansion.  
• The front room to the right of the front door will become a new community social area 
• The room across from Family Fitness studio (formerly the Mask-Only Room) will become a second social space for meetings, lunch and learns, Active older Adult functions, etc.  

Why all the changes?

As our east Nashville community continues to grow, we love all the new neighbors we’re gaining, but we also know growth means increased demand for our spaces. So we've been spending a lot of time thinking about how we might address some key challenges within our existing square footage. These challenges include: 

• A frequently expressed desire for more wellness equipment
• Y-Play safety risks identified as a result of Active Shooter Scenario planning (based on its current location and relative isolation from the rest of the building) 
• Diminished need for many of the temporary spaces we configured to provide more isolated workout areas, or to increase the potential for social distancing during the height of the pandemic

Moreover, in the years since the construction of our Teen and Senior Center, we've had the benefit of observing how our youth and seniors end up using the space, as well as others throughout the Y, and we believe their needs may be equally, if not better, met in a variety of ways if we're open to thinking a little differently about all of our spaces. 

As we considered these challenges and opportunities, it became clear that at least in the short term, a reconfiguration of some of our spaces would ultimately provide a better member experience and allow us to accommodate more people, more effectively, through a more efficient use of our building.  

What’s the long-term plan?

We know it’s not likely the changes will permanently address our growing pains. Please know that we are actively engaging in longer-range master planning to identify the best way for our facility to meet growing community needs. 

These longer-term planning efforts will take a good deal of time and thought and must involve many stakeholders, from staff to members to volunteer leaders to philanthropists and more. We want to undertake them with a great deal of intentionality and not take shortcuts in planning for our future, so we appreciate your willingness to live with these kinds of changes in the interim.