READI 2.0-supported project takes another step toward becoming a new community hub in Grant County

There are plenty of ways to mark progress on a construction project. At the future Gas City YMCA, community leaders recently had the opportunity to make that progress a little more personal — by signing their names to a steel beam that will become part of the new facility.

Forge ECI’s Caitlin Hancock joined Gas City Mayor Bill Rock Jr., Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and other project and community leaders for a beam-signing ceremony at the construction site in Turner Park.

The event offered a chance to celebrate how far the project has come since its groundbreaking earlier this year and recognize the partnerships helping turn a long-envisioned community investment into reality.

From Groundbreaking to Going Vertical

Just a few months ago, the future YMCA site was largely an open construction site. Today, steel rising above Turner Park provides a much clearer picture of what’s taking shape.

The approximately $28 million project will bring the first YMCA facility to Gas City, creating a new destination for health, wellness, recreation, youth programming and community connection. The facility is also expected to create approximately 50 jobs.

The YMCA is being developed at Turner Park on the site of a former fireworks factory, transforming previously underutilized property into an asset designed to serve residents for years to come.

For Forge ECI, the beam signing also provided an opportunity to step away from the behind-the-scenes work involved in administering READI and experience firsthand the progress happening in the communities the program serves.

“We spend a great deal of time on the administrative side of the program so it’s always genuinely rewarding to be able to go into our communities and celebrate progress alongside them — to see a project like this take shape, knowing it will give families across Grant County and East Central Indiana better access to health and recreation,” said Caitlin Hancock.

Hancock joined Mayor Rock, Lt. Gov. Beckwith and others in adding her signature to one of the building’s steel beams — quite literally leaving a mark on a project that will serve the community for generations.

READI 2.0 Helping Lay the Foundation

The Gas City YMCA is supported by $1.263 million in READI 2.0 funding, part of the broader READI investment in East Central Indiana.

The READI funding supports critical infrastructure associated with the development, including site preparation, utilities and roadway improvements.

Those pieces may not ultimately be the most visible parts of the finished YMCA, but they are essential to making a development of this scale possible.

The project illustrates one of the central ideas behind READI: leveraging state investment alongside local, private and philanthropic resources to advance projects that improve quality of place and contribute to long-term regional growth.

Now, those investments are becoming tangible. Steel beams are going up. Construction crews are at work. And a project that once existed in plans and renderings is beginning to look like a place where families will soon walk through the doors.

More Than a Gym

While the construction progress is easy to see, the significance of the Gas City YMCA extends well beyond the building itself.

The facility is envisioned as a multi-purpose community hub providing opportunities for recreation, wellness, youth development and social connection. That makes the YMCA part of a much larger conversation about quality of place in East Central Indiana.

Strong communities need employment opportunities, infrastructure and housing. But they also need places that make everyday life better — places where children can participate in activities, families can spend time together, residents can focus on their health and neighbors can build connections.

Those amenities also play an increasingly important role in a community’s ability to attract and retain people. When individuals and families decide where to put down roots, the quality of life a community offers is part of that decision.

Investments like the Gas City YMCA help create those places while continuing the transformation of Turner Park from a former industrial property into a destination for recreation and community life.

A Signature on Something Bigger

Eventually, the signed beam will become just one piece of the completed YMCA. As construction continues, the signatures added during the ceremony will be covered by the rest of the building.

They may no longer be visible, but they’ll remain part of the structure. It’s a fitting symbol for the partnerships behind projects like this.

Major community investments rarely happen because of one organization, one funding source or one person. They happen when communities establish a vision and local, regional, state, private and philanthropic partners find ways to move that vision forward together.

The Gas City YMCA is another example of that collaboration becoming visible in East Central Indiana. For Hancock, Mayor Rock, Lt. Gov. Beckwith and the other community leaders who gathered at the site, the beam signing offered a moment to recognize that progress — while looking ahead to what the completed facility will mean for Grant County.

This week, that progress looked like signatures on a steel beam. Before long, it will look like a YMCA filled with people.