The Hollister Redevelopment Agency tonight is set to listen to a
presentation from the San Benito County YMCA on becoming a partner
to build a community center at the GAF Leatherback site.
HOLLISTER
The Hollister Redevelopment Agency tonight is set to listen to a presentation from the San Benito County YMCA on becoming a partner to build a community center at the former GAF Leatherback site.
Chairman of the YMCA Board of Managers Scott Fuller said he will be presenting some architectural concepts to the agency and other details surrounding the potential project.
“We are going in front of the RDA board to present a concept of how a YMCA facility could function on a portion of the Leatherback site,” he said. “We want to share our desire of having a partnership with the city for a community center.”
The proposed center, a 38,000- to 40,000-square-foot indoor facility and a 10,000-square-foot outdoor pool, is designed to have an eighth-mile track, an under-18 soccer field, locker rooms, meeting areas, a gym, fitness area and child care center.
The RDA bought the Leatherback’s two vacant buildings on Hillcrest Road and Prospect Avenue for $4 million. The buildings are zoned as mixed-use commercial and cannot be made into an industrial zone again. The property can be turned into residential units as well.
Fuller said that the city will “hopefully” want to become involved with a new YMCA projects.
“We are hopeful that the city will want to help us with this,” Fuller said. “It is preliminary at this point but it will be a true community center.”
He continued: “This is a great opportunity for the city, so we hope they’ll want to work with us. We feel pretty positive about this and we think they will want to work with us on this.”
Other cities have worked in partnerships to build YMCA facilities and provide recreational services such as Morgan Hill, Soledad, El Camino YMCA in Mountain View, Pueblo, Colo. and Marshall, Minn.
The Hollister City Council and Redevelopment Agency meet at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 375 Fifth Street in Hollister.
