The downtown Montreal YMCA will soon be up for sale
CBC
The downtown YMCA, a community centre and gym located between Stanley and Drummond streets, just north of Ste-Catherine Street, will soon be up for sale.
YMCAs of Quebec, the charity that operates the community centres in the province, says it is selling the building in part because revenue from gym memberships is down.
The organization says it hopes to use the cash from the sale to increase the capital in its "mission-driven investment fund," which it says will help pay for services and programming at other centres.
"It is imperative for our organization to transform our footprint so we can strengthen our impact for the long term," Stéphane Vaillancourt, the president and CEO of the YMCAs of Quebec, said in a statement.
The organization says it hopes to find another building in the area, known as the Peter McGill district, to rent, instead of buy.
Since the pandemic, fewer people have been commuting downtown, and, as a consequence, there has been less demand at the YMCA's gym and athletic facilities. The large fitness facilities have been closed since the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020.
Current programming, including a language school and a youth social hub, will continue in the short term, the organization said, and tenants at the downtown YMCA have been informed of the upcoming sale of the building. They will be able to pursue their activities until 2025.
The decision to sell the downtown YMCA was the latest move by YMCAs of Quebec to scale back its offerings due to budget constraints.
The YMCA in the Complexe Guy-Favreau, also downtown, closed at the end of 2019 and the aquatic and physical activity programs at two other Montreal YMCAs, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Pointe-Saint-Charles, were also shut down