Jay Buckmaster, l-r, Mary Brown, and Mayor Eddie Melton

Construction on Gary's new YMCA starts in May

Contributed By: The 411 News

Demolition is set to start in 2 weeks at the John Will Anderson Boys & Girls Club in Gary.

And a foundation will be poured in May, said Jay Buckmaster, on the project to bring Methodist Hospitals and Crossroads YMCA to the club on the site of the old Tolleston School. It has been slow going for the recently branded Tolleston Opportunity Campus that came to life in 2022.

But now, the project is moving fast towards a completion date at the end of 2026.

The announcement came at Friday’s meeting in the Tolleston Park Pavilion hosted by Gary’s Mayor Eddie Melton, 3rd District City Councilwoman Mary Brown and Buckmaster.

Funding is from three $10 million grants provided by the City of Gary, the Dean & Barbara White Foundation, and Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI). Gary’s portion came from its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

Buckmaster, the President/CEO of Crossroads YMCA said the vision was to make sure “… we had places for kids to be able to learn, grow and thrive; for health and wellness programs; and have health care right in the space where people are gathering by the thousands every single day.”

When new construction starts in the spring, it will be on the 2-story 80,000 square foot YMCA.


Architectural rendering of the Tolleston Opportunity Campus

“A parent can come in, drop their child off in the Kid Zone,” Buckmaster said. “It will give mom and dad time to go upstairs and take care of their health, to exercise or attend classes.”

It will have 2 pools. One pool will be for families with infants and young children, for water exercise classes and recreation.

The other pool is a therapy pool, the first of its kind in Crossroads 7 locations. The pool will have handrails and a ramp, making it wheelchair accessible in partnership with the hospital programs.

It will include gymnasiums. There will be a kitchen to work on healthy living and cooking; to teach those skills to not only parents, but also to young kids.

An indoor track will circle the second floor.

Demolition of the Tolleston School east building will be followed by demolition of the north building. The Anderson Club is in a wing of the school that was constructed in the 1960s.

“We've got $40 million dreams, with $30 million bucks right now in the bank, and so we are going on a capital campaign. We think that there's a high level of interest for people to want to name this in perpetuity,” Buckmaster said. Details on that are coming in the next 30 days.

When the surrounding grounds and sports fields for baseball, soccer, and football are finished, the dream will be complete.

Buckmaster and Mayor Melton had to defend the project with some in the audience who voiced doubts about its purpose and sustainability.

Robert Coleman said he was totally against the project. “This community does not have enough people that would actually help pay the monthly fee to sustain a building like this. And I feel that money should go for better use on better things here in Gary, Indiana.”

“We can't even pay most of our NIPSCO bills for the city, from what I've learned,” said a resident. “I don't see this project as a building up. I see it in the future as being another stagnation, which is what has happened over and over to the city.”

Tolleston was an abandoned school that is “now a safe place providing opportunities for our children because of a partnership between the community, the Gary school corporation, and corporate partners,” Melton said. “We are in a stable financial position as a city right now. So, I don’t know where you got that information from we are not paying our NIPSCO bills.”

“Hammond’s Y was ready to close in 2010. It had 2,000 members, now it has 30,000 members,” Buckmaster responded. “Secondly, we just got recognized by the Chamber of Commerce in Hammond for the Economic Development Award. We brought in jobs to that community. We're bringing people in who want to move there.”

Story Posted:03/15/2025