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QuickTake:
The “new” Y in south Eugene, which opened in December 2023, now has about 18,500 members, far exceeding its projections. As the organization mulls new projects in north Eugene and on its previous site on Patterson Street, it is asking for community input.
As the Eugene Family YMCA prepares to expand its facilities, it is asking community members to take a survey about what they want to see at future locations.
The Y is “at the beginning stages of capital planning for two future locations — a Patterson Campus expansion (where the existing Tennis and Pickleball Center resides) and a potential future location in North Eugene,” the introduction to the survey says.
The survey closes Monday, March 30, at midnight. Community members don’t have to belong to the Y to take the survey.
In an interview, Beth Casper, chief strategy officer at the Y, said that the Y’s membership of 18,500 grew a lot faster than administrators had forecast.
“We did have projections that we would have this number of members,” she said. “We just didn’t know it would happen so quickly.”
The Y has been popular with families, Casper said. More than 800 children were enrolled in swimming lessons in 2025. Many families use the two hours of free on-site child care, for kids ages 6 weeks to 9 years old, while parents get a workout — or work remotely in the community room.
“What we’re hearing from parents, anecdotally, is this is an extension of (their) child care,” Casper said.
Events from community potlucks to disaster preparedness seminars at the Y are well-attended. Fitness classes fill up almost instantly.
The Y demolished most of its previous facility on Patterson Street, leaving a vacant gravel lot (the indoor tennis and pickleball courts remained). The Y’s leaders are hoping to put up four multipurpose rooms on the old Y site, two blocks north of the current Y on East 24th Avenue and Hilyard Street, to be able to offer more after-school care, group fitness classes and a community room.
They consider the Patterson site, projected to cost $10 million to $11 million, as an expansion of the current facility, not a second full Y. Construction of the current facility at East 24th Avenue cost about $50 million.
The needs are different in north Eugene. Casper said that part of the city is underserved.
“What we’re not going to do is take this building and plop it in north Eugene,” Casper said. “Each community is very different, and that (facility) will be unique to those neighborhoods that will be served — Bethel, Santa Clara, North Gilham.”
The Y is considering two locations for another facility to serve north Eugene residents. One possibility is on Wilkes Drive near Madison Middle School. The other is a Lane Transit District property on Hunsaker Lane off River Road. Development on that property is currently restricted for a facility of only 18,000 square feet at most, which isn’t large enough for what the Y needs. LTD and the city are working to change the restriction.
The Y is hoping to launch capital campaigns for both facilities by the end of 2026.