Downtown Dallas’ YMCA has a buyer. Members of its board aren’t happy about it

There has been a YMCA in downtown Dallas since 1885. Soon, that may no longer be the case.

After the T. Boone Pickens YMCA in downtown Dallas was put on the market first in 2019 and again in 2021, the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas has an offer on the property at Ross Avenue and Akard Street.

With no concrete plans for a new downtown location and a now-gone commitment to finding one, the potential sale isn’t going down well with several people devoted to the Y, including members of its own board of management.

“It’s just wrong,” said Glenn Callison, a commercial real estate lawyer who’s been going to the Y for 30 years. “It’s wrong for the community. I think it’s contrary to the mission of the YMCA. And it’s just a travesty considering the history of being in downtown Dallas for over 120 years.”

Curt Hazelbaker, the YMCA’s president and CEO, said he expected a backlash from the decision to sell.

“We would be disappointed if people weren’t upset,” he told The Dallas Morning News. “If people weren’t upset, we weren’t doing our job or they didn’t care enough about their local Y.”

‘Not committed to being in downtown’

The all-cash offer for the downtown Y, made in the form of a letter of intent, likely totals around $12 million. Its prospective buyer intends to convert it into a mixed-use apartment project. That’s according to information in a May 26 internal email from Hazelbaker that critics of the sale sent to The News. The email doesn’t identify the potential buyer.

The YMCA responded to the offer in May, but the history of the deal goes back to 2019. The organization received an offer then but sale talks stalled once the pandemic hit. At the time, a sale was predicated on finding a new home for a downtown Y, a commitment Y leaders reiterated when the building was re-listed in 2021.

This time around, though, there is no such commitment. The YMCA’s board of directors decided in February that the association did not need to keep a presence downtown in order to move forward with a sale.

“We’re not committed to being in downtown,” Hazelbaker told The News.

That’s what is most upsetting to members of the location’s board of management, a group of volunteers that advises each YMCA.

“I don’t know of anybody that is against the Y being sold, if we have a replacement Y, but that is not something that’s going to happen,” said Steve Shepherd, a commercial real estate broker who’s been on the board since 2009.

The 211,000-square-foot facility has the most robust suite of fitness-related amenities of YMCAs in the metro area. But it also provides services like childcare and swim lessons, and the association uses it as home base for initiatives like its annual Turkey Trot.

However, the building is 83 years old and in need of $8 million worth of repairs, Hazelbaker said, leaving the association questioning whether to keep putting money into an aging facility.

The downtown Y is one of 16 branches operated by the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, which is based in Coppell. The association reported $56.5 million in revenue in 2021, down about $8 million from 2019 but a $5 million improvement over 2020, according to its most recent tax filings.

Opponents of selling the downtown location argue that it’s special because it serves people from all communities of Dallas and all walks of life.

“Our facility…, our membership…, our board…, our programs…, our child services…, our community outreach…, our community support [are] different; we cannot be compared to other metro Ys,” board member Paul Lindenberger wrote in a response to Hazelbaker’s email. “I see (it) as the heart of the [YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas], just as downtown Dallas is the heart of the City of Dallas.”

The downtown Y serves 1,587 individuals and families, Hazelbaker said. Of its individual members, 48% come from a racial minority, compared with 40% association-wide. Blacks represent 22% of its membership, while Hispanics are 15%. Around 23% are on some sort of financial assistance annually, consistent with association-wide averages.

Although Park South Family YMCA and Moorland Family YMCA are the association’s primary locations serving southern Dallas, the downtown Y has historically provided those locations with funding.

The downtown Y’s membership and attendance have always been boosted by nearby office workers. Hazelbaker said offices have been slower to fill back up after COVID precautions were lifted, leading to decreased membership.

Membership at the downtown Y is at 52% of pre-pandemic numbers versus 81% association-wide, a trend that Hazelbaker said has turned it from a location that generates revenue to one that “would need to be subsidized.”

This is not only one of the primary reasons for selling the building, but it’s also the reason for the association’s February decision. Lindenberger and Shepherd said they are frustrated with how that decision was made.

“This whole thing has been about transparency,” Shepherd said. “The membership still knows nothing about what’s going on.”

A committee made up of association board members, downtown Y board of management members and senior Y leaders was assembled in 2019 to discuss a potential sale. They agreed unanimously that a YMCA should remain downtown regardless of the current building’s state. The association board agreed and that was the status quo until February.

Lindenberger and fellow management board member Paul Hoffmeyer said they didn’t learn of the decision to sell without a replacement until an offer was in hand. Hazelbaker said they were kept in the loop.

An informal vote at the downtown Y’s most recent management board meeting was called to assess support for the sale.

“A majority of the board [of management] is in agreement that the building should not be sold without a plan for a replacement,” said Lindenberger, who organized the vote.

‘Make the most impact’

Some board of management members, like Pam Abel, agree with Hazelbaker about the need to sell. “It made financial sense,” she said. “Emotionally, I’m very sad to see the four walls [go] but at the end of the day, it’s the people we serve, not the concrete.”

According to Hazelbaker, the 83-year-old building is in need of $8 million in repairs, three-quarters of which are structural issues invisible to everyday members. Issues such as roof and window leaks and broken air conditioning units are becoming more common, as the building has not been significantly renovated since it got its name in 2009, when the late oil magnate T. Boone Pickens donated $5 million to the downtown location.

“We don’t see a return for an $8 million investment where we can make the most impact,” Hazelbaker said.

In short, the association doesn’t believe it makes sense to continue to put money into an old facility given low membership and a slow bounce-back in downtown office occupancy, according to Hazelbaker.

Callison, who met with Hazelbaker about his concerns as early as 2019, said he considers the return on investment argument to be a feedback loop.

“Part of the reason they don’t have as many members is that they’re not maintaining the building properly,” he said.

In an attempt to raise money for repairs, Lindenberger, Shepherd and Callison proposed a capital campaign to find donors in Dallas’ large philanthropic community. Shepherd said those efforts were “rebuffed at every turn.”

The idea was shut down because the association, working with consultants, determined there was no interest in supporting an adult fitness center, Hazelbaker said.

“The last thing we want to do is start something that doesn’t have a chance to be successful, because you’ve raised hopes on something and then you aren’t able to deliver,” he said.

That’s little comfort to those who are passionate about keeping a downtown Y. The YMCA has a rich history downtown, with its first Dallas facility opening on Commerce Street in 1885. It’s been in its current building since 1983.

“It is the heart of a community center that has been in downtown for more than 100 years,” wrote Lindenberger, who formerly chaired the board of management. “Now is not the time to sell and abandon the downtown community without having a plan in place to ensure the support of the community for the next 100 years.”

‘An icon that’s going to change’

The only remaining hope for a downtown Y is the association’s solicitation of potential sites or development partners north of Ross Avenue through Uptown, according to Hazelbaker’s email. Those are due back June 23, and that leaves the door open for a new, likely smaller, location the association could rent.

Shepherd, Lindenberger, Hoffmeyer and Callison said they think that idea is destined to fail because real estate in Uptown is a hot commodity that comes at a steep price. Those fears are heightened by what they insist is “not a good time to sell” the downtown Y, according to Lindenberger’s email, given a softening commercial real estate market and high interest rates.

There isn’t a timeline for when the downtown Y could close, if a sale goes through. Hazelbaker said the location’s executive director Giselle Patterson is working on a plan to ensure the most essential programming continues. This includes many things that are done in the community and not at the facility, like a Safety Around Water program, after-school care and food distribution.

“Two-thirds of the people that the T. Boone Pickens Y serves are members somewhere else, and I think that’s because of the outreach they do,” Abel said. “There are a lot of feelings, it’s an icon that’s going to change.”

That may not be enough for the others, who want a physical location downtown to uphold the Y’s mission of serving the underserved.

“We have people who come in, and they need the A/C, a nap, they need a cup of coffee and a shower,” Hoffmeyer said. “If we want to serve those people downtown … without a building there, we just can’t do it.”