BY MATT KITE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 3/13/26 |
While giving a tour of the newly revamped Pearl Street Family YMCA last week, Jyot Sandhu, the facility’s external communications manager, employed a classic simile to describe the venerable organization.
“The YMCA is kind of like an onion,” he said from the airy lobby of the state-of-the-art west building. “There are just so many layers to it. You might come here as a kid, and you know it as a basketball gym or a place where you take swim lessons, but you quickly find out that there’s so much more. Actually, this is a place where I can find mentorship and adults that care about me. Or if I’m struggling with cancer, we have Livestrong programs here that help people in their recovery process. Or if you’re struggling with diabetes, we can help set you up with diabetes prevention programming. We’re really just thinking about the entire human experience.”
It’s that holistic approach, Sandhu insisted, that makes the YMCA unique.
“Our vision is a healthy future for all,” he explained. “And you can interpret that in a number of different ways. Health is physical health. Health is mental health. Health is spiritual health. We just want people to come into the Y and know that they can be cared for across the entire spectrum of well-being.”
The revitalized Pearl Street location resembles a campus now. The east building, which is more than a half century old, is slated for eventual demolition and will give way to playfields. Its gymnasium, cardio rooms, racquetball courts, and so forth will be moved to a new building, currently an empty lot awaiting construction next to the west building.
The west building, meanwhile, serves as the campus’s crown jewel. Outfitted with a world-class aquatics center, climbing wall, and weight room, it endured several delays during construction before its grand opening two months ago.
“People were thrilled when it opened,” Sandhu said. “We’d been talking about this project for several years now, dating back before COVID. We knew we needed a new aquatic center especially. The old aquatic center was built in the seventies and had kind of reached the end of its useful lifespan for us. We average about 13,000 swim lessons a year out of this building, so we knew we couldn’t move forward without a new aquatic center that continues serving the community.”
Had it not been for the pandemic, the facility would have opened much sooner.
“We were supposed to break ground in 2020 initially,” Sandhu explained, “and then COVID paused everything for everybody, not just us. And then over the course of the next few years, construction costs rose. The cost of labor rose. So that really made us pause, and after a few years we were able to restart the project.”
Visitors entering the west building for the first time are greeted by friendly staff members at the reception desk in the spacious lobby. To the left, behind glass, is an enormous swimming facility, complete with a lap pool, a recreational pool, a zero-entry access pool designed for users with mobility issues, a splash pad for families with young children, a lazy river pool that simulates a gentle current, an enormous hot tub, and a steam room and sauna.
Second-story viewing areas are outfitted with comfy lounge chairs for parents who want to watch their children in the pool without sitting in the muggy atmosphere. Nearby, workstations await anyone with a laptop and a looming deadline or work project.
Then there’s the Liz Rocks Climbing Wall. Liz Daley, a Stadium High graduate who went on to become a world-class snowboarder and mountain guide, died in a 2014 avalanche in Argentina. But her legacy lives on.
“After her passing,” Sandhu said, “her friends and family came together and created a foundation, the Liz Rocks Foundation. They had been fundraising for a climbing wall in Liz’s honor. They knew the YMCA was building a new community center here on Pearl Street. It was a natural fit. So this is a result of that partnership: the Liz Rocks Climbing Wall. It was built in really vibrant colors. If you knew Liz, she had that bubbly, excited personality.”
Added Sandhu, “The foundation’s mission statement is all about bringing the outdoors to urban youth and providing an opportunity for the kids in the city to learn how to climb and learn a little bit about the outdoors, just like Liz would have wanted them to.”
If you prefer pumping iron to climbing rocks, the new facility’s weight room has you covered. At nearly the size of two basketball courts, it dwarfs the old weight room in the east building. All new equipment, a light and bright space with plenty of room, and outdoor views that include Mt. Rainier on clear days provide plenty of inspiration to get fit. Users even enjoy an up-close-and-personal view of climbers ascending the last stretch of the Liz Rocks Climbing Wall.
A visitor with a keen eye will notice placards on the wall that read “Compassion in Action.” As a nonprofit organization, the YMCA is committed to removing financial barriers that prevent people in the community from gaining access to its facilities. Toward that end, YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties amassed $2.5 million last year in fundraising while giving out $3.7 million in financial assistance to its members.
“People think of it as a swim place or a gym,” Sandhu said, “but it’s a community. We’re trying to help solve some of those complex societal challenges that people are facing, and fundraising is a big help in that.”
The Pearl Street facility is still a work in progress. New parking lots and EV charging stations round out the amenities, but the current fundraising drive, which is aiming to raise $1.25 million in six weeks, will ensure that the multiphase project continues.
Those wishing to contribute to the cause and/or become new members are encouraged to visit www.ymcapkc.org. The YMCA’s membership model includes financial scholarships, military eligibility, corporate membership, family and individual plans, and free membership for youth in foster care, among other options.
“We’re not done yet,” Sandhu said. “We have another building coming up here in the future, so we’re looking forward to rallying the community again and getting that built.”
