R.H White Completes YMCA Renovations

The R.H. White Construction Company of Auburn has completed renovations and additions at two YMCA facilities in Worcester. The YMCA of Central Massachusetts, in existence since 1854, is comprised of facilities in three locations: The Central Community Branch on Main Street in Worcester, The Greendale Family Branch on Shore drive in Worcester, and The Boroughs Family Branch on Valente Drive in Westborough. The Central Branch facility, which also houses the administrative staff, was built in 1920 and remained the sole location until construction of the Greendale facility in 1978.

Worcester, MA  – The R.H. White Construction Company of Auburn has completed renovations and additions at two YMCA facilities in Worcester.  The YMCA of Central Massachusetts, in existence since 1854, is comprised of facilities in three locations:  The Central Community Branch on Main Street in Worcester, The Greendale Family Branch on Shore drive in Worcester, and The Boroughs Family Branch on Valente Drive in Westborough.  The Central Branch facility, which also houses the administrative staff, was built in 1920 and remained the sole location until construction of the Greendale facility in 1978.

Both branches enjoyed robust memberships but were limited in their ability to grow due to space constraints.  In addition to this, the YMCA also realized that they needed to update their facilities in order to remain competitive.  They created conceptual plans, established a budget, and began a capital campaign to raise money.

The Y chose Construction Management at Risk as their project delivery method and began an RFQ/RFP process for both architects and construction managers.  Because the needs of the two facilities were distinct, they chose to treat each as a separate project during this process.  During the proposal phase, R.H. White offered a discount if awarded both projects simultaneously by taking advantage of shared project management costs.  R.H. White was selected as the CM for both projects.  The architects chosen were Sheskey Architects of Quincy for the Greendale Branch and Drummey, Rosane, Anderson (DRA) of Newton.

 

In each case the YMCA set the control budget for the Guaranteed Maximum Price based upon their conceptual plans and the projected fundraising amounts.  Greendale was set at $3.2 million and Central at $3.6 million.  Both projects began in earnest with a review of the desired outcomes against the control budgets.  The strength of the CM process is that all of the project stakeholders are involved early enough to significantly influence the project.  Both teams set about an iterative process of value engineering, alternative design analysis, and scope reviews to bring the GMP under the control budget. 

Another strength of the CM process is that construction can begin prior to the final design being completed.  This proved particularly helpful at the Greendale Facility where the major portion of the project involved construction of a 9,000sf addition for a new wellness center.   At the completion of approximately 60% construction documents, the excavation and foundation work for this addition was started in order to avoid extra costs due to winter conditions. 

The perimeter of the wellness center contains an indoor running track, a portion of which extends into the original facility.  In order to reduce the overall footprint, this portion is enclosed and suspended above a former racquetball court.  In addition to the wellness center, renovations were made to the locker rooms, a new hot tub was constructed, and three exercise studios were built.  The exercise studios were built in the location of the former wellness center and running track.  Upgrades to the lobby and creation of a covered walkway made up the remainder of this project.

The Central Branch also suffered from an outdated and crowded wellness center.  Through design reviews with the Y, DRA, and R.H.White, it was determined that the best space for the wellness center was to expand into where the administrative offices were.  These offices would be moved to a former five story school building that is connected to the YMCA facility.  This building had previously been used for child care and group activities such as a teen center.  In order to meet the needs of the Y moving forward, the mechanical functions were completely updated, new interior finishes installed, and an additional elevator installed.

 With the administrative offices relocated to their new space, work proceeded to convert the former location into a 7400sf wellness center.  In addition, locker rooms were upgraded, the lobby area was reconfigured and upgraded, and one of the existing gymnasiums was converted into exercise studios.

One of the main issues facing the central Branch location was a lack of visibility from the street.  The Y felt that increasing their presence was critical to attracting new members.  To this end, a 50 foot tall light tower was constructed at the front entrance, creating the “draw” from the street that makes it impossible for anyone to miss.  As with the Greendale project, parking space needed to be increased.  At Central this required demolition of a 2000sf building, sitework, utilities and re-paving.

Both locations needed to continue to operate during construction, requiring extensive scheduling with the staff as well as temporary barriers and alternate walkways 

Membership increases have exceeded expectations at both locations and many members have gone out of their way to compliment the YMCA and R.H. White on a job well done.