YMCA considers Moorhead

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Plans for a YMCA here fell by the wayside in 2008, but officials say they are not giving up on the idea.

YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties President Paul Finstad said the 2008 capital campaign for a south Moorhead YMCA didn’t quite come to fruition after the economy took a downturn around the same time.

The YMCA was planning to build two new sites after a 2005 study reported that 44 percent of households listed an indoor fitness facility as a need for the community. The study recommended the metro area build in southwest Fargo and in southeast Moorhead.

That was before Sanford Health approached YMCA Cass Clay to cooperate on building the $12 million Family Wellness Center, which opened in October in southwest Fargo near the Scheels Arena.

“The opportunity to partner with Sanford became real time sensitive,” Finstad said.

Now that the Family Wellness Center is open, Finstad said the YMCA is again interested in opening a Moorhead facility, but no formal plans are in the works.

“I don’t think we’ve ever totally taken it out of play. We just continue to look for options and opportunities and we’ll continue to move forward,” Finstad said.

Finstad estimates a new facility in Moorhead would also cost about $12 million.

Moorhead Mayor Mark Voxland said the city had set aside some capital improvement funds to contribute to the facility, but the money has since been used for other projects, he said.

“We were ready to accommodate them in 2008. If they approached us now, we’d certainly talk to them,” Voxland said.

Wendy Reuer is a reporter

at The Forum of Fargo-

Moorhead, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.

Tags: news, ymca, fargo, moorhead