Work begins in just four weeks on another big construction project benefitting the Hill District, this time a new YMCA facility that will be the match of any of the Y's recreational facilities in the Pittsburgh area.

The $12 million Y will take over a square block of vacant land in the heart of the Hill, on Centre Avenue between Addison and Elmore streets. It will be one block west of the 2-year-old Carnegie Library branch at the struggling neighborhood's main intersection at Centre and Kirkpatrick, and a few blocks east of a new Shop 'n Save supermarket at the corner of Heldman Street.

The facility -- being named after longtime Hill District activist Thelma Lovette -- will provide Hill residents with the only indoor pool in the community, along with a state-of-the-art health center, gym, indoor track, computer lab and multipurpose meeting spaces. Featuring a rooftop garden deck (funded with help from McAuley Ministries, the grant-making arm of Pittsburgh Mercy Health System), the 42,000-square-foot structure is expected to be certified as one of the city's latest green buildings.

The formal groundbreaking will be Aug. 9, and construction is expected to take 15 months, with a grand opening targeted in early 2012.

Besides revitalizing a key part of the Hill, the building is hoped to provide a much-needed recreational outlet to neighborhood residents. Its current YMCA building at Centre and Francis is 90 years old, in need of repairs and largely used as a residence hall.

The new branch "will have state-of-the-art equipment," said Aaron Gibson, director of the Centre Avenue YMCA. "What you see at suburban branches you'll see there."

The first-class equipment is part of a key selling point to attract new members to the facility -- their membership dollars plus a good deal of extra financial support will be necessary to underwrite its operations. Many in the neighborhood are expected to apply for "Building Bridges" financial assistance, in which memberships are awarded at cut rates. It will also host after-school and tutoring programs for youths and activities for seniors.

"We want to be part of all the organizations and programs for folks in that community -- membership [fees] alone will not be able to sustain that facility," Mr. Gibson said. "There is need in that community. We need to get the teenagers in there."

The neighborhood seems poised to rise to the challenge.

"Organizations like the YMCA provide critical care and physical health resources to families, children and residents of the Hill District," said the district's city councilman, R. Daniel Lavelle. "These public-private partnerships help form the solid foundation of support to our community. When we all work together, we are all better for it."

Mr. Lavelle is a member of the city Urban Redevelopment Authority board, which agreed last week to sell the YMCA 18 parcels of vacant Centre Avenue land for $237,250. The agency may grant those funds back to the nonprofit to pay for green spaces and other public amenities.

Jennifer Rignani, vice president of development and communications for the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh, said construction will include a high level of work by minority-owned businesses, and is designed with enough natural light, recycled materials and other environmentally friendly features (such as the rooftop garden) to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The new Shop 'n Save down the street, which is expected to open a few months before the Y, is also expected to be green-certified. Also, construction should be under way at the same time as the Pittsburgh Green Innovators building in the former Connelley vocational-technical school a few blocks away in the Lower Hill, which be a home for new companies and training programs with an environmental theme.

That's not to mention nearby Consol Energy Center, which is vying to be named the greenest major sports facility in the nation.

The new Y "will provide the Hill District neighborhoods with a vital, family-centered hub for social, physical and developmental activity, as well as continue the revitalization of the Centre Avenue corridor," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl stated. "With a new arena, library, and soon-to-be YMCA and grocery store, we are rebuilding the Hill District and providing jobs and opportunities to its residents."

The current Y on Centre Avenue, which is home to 77 men, will stay in operation. Upgrades are planned to the 1922 facility, including new residential rooms, an elevator and turning its small gym into a multipurpose room.

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