Pause and take a look at new center project

The proposed community and senior center project in the city of Birmingham that has been on the drawing board for the past two years could well be at a critical juncture, brought on by national economic circumstances along with some challenges that are self-inflicted – making us wonder whether there should be a momentary pause to allow the city commission to go back and review what the original goal was when this undertaking was first launched.

As a quick review, the effort was originally billed as a senior center project—a way to find a home for the Next senior services program which has been operating out of a school district building for decades. Most community leaders agreed that the services provided by Next would complete the overall array of services that most communities are providing for their residents as the population here and in other communities continues to age.

Next and the city of Birmingham had been attempting to develop a long-term lease for the Midvale school building where the senior group now operates. However, the school district has plans for the school building. In the summer of 2023 the city purchased the building housing the YMCA at 400 E. Lincoln in Birmingham. The city paid the YMCA $2 million, $500,000 of which was put up by the Next organization, a private non-profit that has been working with the age 50+ members of a community that includes Birmingham, Beverly Hills and Bingham Farms. Early on in this endeavor it was determined that it seemed more logical to replace the existing building rather than trying to rehab an older building that had not been maintained well and presented too many ADA compliance concerns.

The YMCA suggested that it wanted to remain in the building on a very short-term basis because it was going to be part of a new YMCA building in the Royal Oak area, which was cancelled we suspect because as an organization it was facing some serious financial challenges. So then the YMCAC said it wanted to remain in Birmingham and be part of the new building.

As a result, the Birmingham City Commission made its first mistake by allowing the needs of the YMCA to become almost a controlling factor in the effort to provide a home for Next. The commission also fell prey to a lobby from a community faction connected with the YMCA which intensely pressured the commission to make a swimming pool as part of this project.

The next thing we know, a new building to house Next, the YMCA and act as a community center became the focus of the city’s efforts. A minor millage that voters had approved to make alterations at the E. Lincoln facility to house Next now became a massive and expensive project in the neighborhood of $30-32 million, underwritten by the sale of bonds to be paid off by taxpayers over 20-25 years.

Then in recent weeks came the new national tariff policy, or lack there of, that has upended all planning on the part of businesses, government units and residents, both here and around the world. The impact has quickly become a litany of canceled building projects and plans put on hold.

In terms of the Birmingham project, there was a meeting held just recently to review massive cost increases for the new building, some say to the tune of $8 million. The building will now be downsized once again, hopefully not at the expense of Next like in the past.

Yes, we recognize that hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been invested in the new building, but we think the city should put a hold on everything so that a broad community and city commission conversation can be held.

Among the questions that need to be addressed, and should have been addressed already but were not: Is it the responsibility of the city to find a home for the YMCA? Is that even a safe financial venture? How does a so-called community center fit with the 2040 Master Plan that has been adopted? What is the overall community sentiment about a community center? Should the city return to its original vision when the E. Lincoln building was bought – rehab the first floor for Next and worry about the second story down the road? Or downsize the new building to just house Next and a community center?

We question whether a bond proposal on the November ballot will prove successful with voters, for a variety of reasons. So the shifting national/international economic picture is a perfect time in our view to look at all options before just pushing ahead.