‘There will be so much more.’ The area’s biggest YMCA opens this week in Indian Land
Upper Palmetto YMCA will open its newest, biggest area facility this week in Indian Land.
Indian Land YMCA at 2816 Worldreach Drive tours and ribbon-cutting runs from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday. The site officially opens Friday.
The more than 70,000-square-foot building will have cardio and weight training equipment, an indoor heated pool, full gymnasium, elevated walking track, cycle studio, yoga and Pilates studio and child watch.
“Members have access to top of the line fitness equipment, gymnasium and indoor pool, but there will be so much more,” Upper Palmetto CEO Kirk Eich said in a news release Monday.
There are safety protocols in place due to COVID-19 at Upper Palmetto facilities. Participants must sign a waiver liability and nationwide membership isn’t accepted at local branches. Masks are not required while exercising, according to Upper Palmetto.
After-school childcare and youth sports will begin next year. Health and exercise programs for diabetes prevention and cancer survivors will be offered then, too.
The new 16-acre YMCA site in the CrossRidge development is an anchor for plans that include a hotel, dozens of acres of commercial space, office space and apartments. CrossRidge is a 170-acre mixed-use development on U.S. 521, just east of its Dobys Bridge Road intersection.
The Indian Land YMCA is expected to have 15,000 members within two years, The Herald previously reported.
Two similar facilities are slightly smaller.
The 62,000-square-foot Baxter Close YMCA in Fort Mill opened in 2005 with a gym, pool and water park. It has 14,000 members.
Clover School District YMCA in Lake Wylie opened in 2016. It is 71,400 square feet with 12,000 members and also includes a gym, indoor and outdoor pool, and waterpark.
Indoor space for both is around 50,000 square feet, while the Indian Land site is about 70,000.
The Indian Land YMCA, funded in part through federal funding for rural communities, will employ about 125 people, The Herald previously reported.
The Upper Palmetto YMCA said on Facebook it will permanently close the Lake Wylie YMCA at 4034 Charlotte Highway, near the Buster Boyd Bridge, on Friday.
The Lake Wylie YMCA had reopened in May for seniors only during the pandemic.
A letter posted Friday from regional vice president Tim Conley said the YMCA evaluated its branches having sustained losses because of the pandemic and needed to make more changes. Employees will be offered positions at other branches, according to the letter.
Upper Palmetto, started in 1913, is headquartered in Rock Hill and serves York, Lancaster and Chester counties. It includes 17 sites.
This story was originally published October 27, 2020 at 10:39 AM.
