Norfolk officials and community leaders broke ground this week on a new permanent home for the William A. Hunton YMCA, a 151-year-old institution whose former downtown property was sold to the City of Norfolk amid the St. Paul's redevelopment. The new 22,700-square-foot facility, rising on the former Tidewater Park Elementary site, is the first phase of a complex, with an $18.3 million fundraising goal for Phase 1. The facility will nearly double the YMCA's daily childcare capacity to 300 children.
The groundbreaking marks a turning point after years of transition for the Hunton YMCA, founded in 1875 to serve Black Norfolk residents who were barred from the mainstream YMCA at the time, according to WAVY.com. It remains one of only four Heritage YMCAs left in the country, the station reports. Tonija Williams, CEO of the Hunton YMCA, said at the ceremony that “the community's shared vision can produce extraordinary things for generations,” per WAVY.com's reporting.
A Years-Long Path From Charlotte Street to Brambleton Avenue
The project traces back to July 2023, when Norfolk's City Council approved a $6.6 million agreement to purchase the YMCA's former property at 1139 E. Charlotte Street, a deal that also included $200,000 for moving costs and $400,000 to cover temporary rent, according to WHRO. That sale came after roughly three years of negotiations between city officials and the YMCA's board, per the station's reporting. The organization runs its programs out of a temporary space at 5520 Tidewater Drive, according to the Hunton YMCA's own account of its history.
The Charlotte Street property wasn't left vacant. It was cleared to build the Blue Greenway, a 22.2-acre coastal resilience park featuring an engineered urban wetland meant to mitigate downtown flooding in the former Tidewater Gardens area, per Work Program Architects' project materials. The resilience park includes 850 trees and 220,000 plants intended to restore the natural watershed of Newton's Creek, the firm notes.
Doubling Capacity for Kindred's Youngest Residents
Phase 1 of the new facility will include an early childhood education center, administrative offices, outdoor classrooms, and a playground, the station's report notes. Construction manager W.M. Jordan Company projects the build will take about 14 months, with site plans from Work Program Architects and occupancy targeted for early 2028 — a timeline that aligns with WAVY.com's reporting that the opening is slated for late 2027 or early 2028. The City of Norfolk has contributed more than $6 million toward the project, and the YMCA has raised over $16 million of its $18.3 million Phase 1 goal, per the same account.
Future phases, dependent on additional fundraising, call for a full-size gymnasium and an outdoor swimming pool, expanding the overall complex to nearly 47,500 square feet once fully built out. The new site anchors Kindred, the redeveloped neighborhood formerly known as Tidewater Gardens, a 714-unit mixed-income initiative split roughly evenly between public housing replacement units, income-based homes, and market-rate apartments, according to Work Program Architects.
Civic Leaders Tie the Y to Kindred's Future
Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander said the new YMCA represents an investment in Kindred, according to WAVY.com. The new facility is expected to provide services and programs for both younger and older community members, supporting quality of life and development for the next generation in the neighborhood, the outlet reports.
The Hunton YMCA's roots run deep in Norfolk's civic history. During its early years, the organization's building was the first site for Norfolk State University's classrooms, according to the Hunton YMCA. The school later grew into a historically Black university, per WHRO. The YMCA is named for William A. Hunton, who in 1888 became the nation's first full-time paid African American director of a Black YMCA before later leading the national YMCA Colored Men's Department.
For now, the organization continues operating from its temporary location. The YMCA describes its mission broadly as supporting children, families and community members through learning, care, services and community-building, a role it will carry into its new home once the doors open.
