Ground broken for planned YMCA near Grand Park in Westfield

The Ascension St. Vincent YMCA is expected to open in January 2025 at the southwest corner of Wheeler Road and East 181st Street in Westfield. (Rendering courtesy YMCA of Greater Indianapolis)

Westfield officials and leaders with the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis on Wednesday held a ceremonial groundbreaking and shared new information about the design and amenities for the planned new YMCA near Grand Park Sports Campus.

The Ascension St. Vincent YMCA will be built adjacent to the existing $15 million Westfield Washington Schools Aquatic Center, which the organization manages at the southwest corner of Wheeler Road and East 181st Street. The 54,000-square-foot YMCA is expected to open in January 2025.

The facility will feature a gymnasium for court sports, free weights and cardio equipment, cycle and yoga studios, an indoor track, a teaching kitchen, a child watch and kids’ adventure area, community gathering spaces, a chapel/reflection room, classrooms for collegiate partnerships and a science, technology, engineering and math classroom.

Gregg Hiland, CEO of the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, said in written remarks that Westfield has demonstrated its support for the new facility. The organization has raised $20 million of its $25 million fundraising goal for the project.

“Westfield has established itself as a place where sports, healthy living, and community come together, and we’re honored to enhance that unique identity and take a step closer to our vision of a healthier, more equitable, more connected community,” Hiland said.

The YMCA of Greater Indianapolis originally announced plans in 2018 to develop a YMCA branch and natatorium. The natatorium opened in February 2021, but the pandemic’s impact on fundraising efforts delayed development of the Ascension St. Vincent YMCA.

The Westfield City Council in March 2022 approved a contribution of $5 million to the YMCA project through funds the city received via the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

The Wheeler Family, which owns the nearby Westfield Airport, donated the land for the project.