The YMCA and its board of directors are eyeballing the Citizens Social Hall on West Tenth Street as an addition to its facility. But despite the interest, Amy Hampton, the YMCA’s executive director, said the idea is still just an “interesting concept.”
“It would be a tremendous addition to our YMCA,” said Hampton this morning, “but we’re not going to strap ourselves into a financial situation with it. We’re going to look into everything that’s involved with it and see if it’s feasible.”
Hampton said the one-level building would be ideal for many of the YMCA’s already established programming.
Children’s day care has contracted with the Tyrone Area School District for space next year at the Tyrone Elementary School, but that’s not a permanent solution. Seniors will find the building much more accessible than the current location on Logan Avenue. And many of the YMCA-sponsored programs that are being held off-site, such as cardio-kickboxing, can easily move into the facility.
“Where we are now, we don’t have a lot of room for expansion,” said Hampton. “This would be a perfect match for us. It’s appealing on a lot of different levels for us. It’s still just a concept, but something we will look into.”
Hampton said conversations have already occurred with Reliance Bank about the possible purchase of the building. She said the bank isn’t in a hurry to sell the property and noted that it will be looking at bids for the property.
The Citizens Fire Co., which operated in Tyrone for the past 122 years, closed its doors on June 16 after Tyrone Borough Council pulled its charter for operations. Two days later, the bank foreclosed on the Social Hall property and fire companies members handed over the deed.
The YMCA joins at least two other Tyrone not-for-profit organizations interested in the building. Already, The Tyrone Community Partnership and The Joshua House, a youth-based ministry, have publicly expressed their interest.
