Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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148 last for years to come. Since opening in 1973, the Andover-North Andover YMCA— one of three branches under the umbrella of the Merrimack Valley YMCA—has been embraced by all walks of life, from working parents in need of day care to senior citizens looking to stay active. "The phrase I use is from ῾Pampers to grampers,'" says Alex Turek, executive direc- tor of the Andover-North Andover branch. It's become a beloved institution, a nonprofit providing more than $3 million of subsidized programs and services in the Mer- rimack Valley each year. But as the Y's ranks swelled to 9,000 members, the building's 50,000 square feet be- came inadequate. There were new demands for programming and just one exercise studio to host an entire catalog of classes. More generally, the building hadn't seen a major update since the Nixon administration, and it needed a facelift. "The facility was good, but it was also becoming dated," Kapelson says. "We wanted to make sure we were anticipating current and also future needs of our members, so we endeavored very hard to make what we could sus- tainable for the next 40 to 50 years without falling behind the times." After commissioning a feasibil- ity study and lining up funding—a feat that included raising $8 mil- lion in donations from local resi- dents and businesses, surpassing a self-imposed goal—they broke ground on the project in spring 2014. The next year and a half featured a series of work-arounds to keep the Y open during con- struction, like transforming half of the gymnasium into a treadmill- and elliptical-equipped fitness area after the existing wellness center was knocked down. Over- all, Kapelson says, the members displayed an enduring patience throughout construction. "We tried to constantly communicate to our members what was happen- ing and when it was happening," Kapelson says. "We felt that they could put up with inconveniences, but nobody likes to be surprised." There was, however, at least one pleasant surprise: Membership at the Andover branch ticked up even as the construction unfolded. Days before the end of 2015, the expansion held a soft opening to introduce the membership to what awaited them in the New Year. "The entire building—top to bottom, front to back—has been redesigned and added onto," says Turek. "It's almost unrecognizable from what it was in 1973." The transformation is evident as soon as you pull into the parking lot and see the giant Y sym- bol–adorned glass exterior. Inside, five skylights in the high vaulted ceilings beam sunlight through the atrium. Wander around and you'll find state-of-the-art features across all three floors: three new group exercise studios (in addition to their previously existing counterpart); a third swimming pool; an area devot- ed to weightlifting and boxing; and a dedicated cardio area outfitted with new treadmills, bikes, and el- liptical machines. Elsewhere, there are expanded child-care rooms, an elevator-accessible center for ac- tive older adults with a lounge and exercise equipment, and renovated locker rooms. All told, the building has more than doubled to 104,000 square feet. "In terms of sheer volume, we can satisfy so many more people that are interested in staying healthy in a variety of ways," Turek says. "Now, we can connect people further and help them build relationships with