After nearly six decades at the corner of Broughton and Blanshard, the Downtown Victoria YMCA/YWCA is preparing to leave its longtime home and relocate to the Bay Centre.
Also moving is the YMCA’s licensed childcare centre, which will shift in the coming months to a custom-built space in the Cool Aid Society building near Mayfair Mall. It will maintain its $10-a-day status under provincial funding.
The Bay Centre relocation is slated for early 2026, closing a significant chapter in the organization’s history and raising broader questions about the future of downtown recreation and public access.
The existing facility at 851 Broughton St. was sold in 2018 to Concert Properties for $21.9 million.
Since then, the organization has struggled to find a viable downtown alternative.
“To be really frank, one of the big challenges with that building is just its physical condition,” said CEO Derek Gent. “That building is held together with some duct tape and glue.”
Plans to build a new facility collapsed in the years after the sale.
A previously announced partnership with Jawl Properties for the Capitol 6 site fell apart amid pandemic disruptions, rising construction costs, and broader operational challenges.
“We had been looking for so long and really having a tough time figuring out how we were going to afford to build something,” Gent said.
Instead, the YMCA will take over the former GoodLife Fitness space on the top floor of the Bay Centre. The roughly 20,000-square-foot space on Douglas Street will include fitness studios, weights, and multipurpose areas – but no swimming pool, racquet courts, or basketball gym.
The absence of a pool is a major loss for downtown Victoria, where aquatic options are already limited.
Crystal Pool is set to undergo demolition and reconstruction over the next five years, and UVic’s McKinnon Pool faces an uncertain future.
Gent said the decision was primarily driven by cost.
“Building a pool is a very big number,” he said. “Even a smaller therapy pool would still be in the millions, and then you have all the operating costs and staffing. It’s prohibitive on a cost-recovery basis.”
That gap has drawn concern from community members. Scott Baker, a longtime YMCA user, said the new facility doesn’t compare to what’s being left behind.
“It’s not a continuation – it’s a closure of the thing and the creation of something new that’s much diminished,” Baker said. “The gym, the courts, the pool – those are the rare things. You can get a fitness space anywhere.”
Baker emphasized the Y’s role as a publicly accessible gathering place, especially in a city that faces long winters and growing social isolation.
“The ability to have a community-focused, rather than commercial-focused place to go and move your body is so important,” he said. “I know they're just moving down the road, but a lot of it is staying behind.”
The YMCA says it is exploring partnerships with other public and private pool operators to continue offering aquatic programming. That includes hotel and condo pools, public recreation centres, and even outdoor lessons in areas like the Gorge Waterway or Langford.
“The issue of kids having swimming lessons is a big driver for us,” Gent said. “It’s a public safety issue. We’re surrounded by water here, so we’re hopeful we can get creative and find ways to meet that need.”
Meanwhile, Concert Properties is planning on moving forward with redevelopment of the Broughton Street site, which would include a 26-storey condo tower, an 11-storey rental building, and a public plaza.
The YMCA’s lease expires by mid-2026, though the organization hopes to minimize the gap between facilities.
Current membership at the Downtown Y is around 5,000, down from a pre-pandemic high of over 8,000. The Bay Centre lease is tied to membership numbers, meaning rent will scale based on how many members transition – a structure Gent said helps reduce risk.
Still, some remain skeptical.
“It’s a shame,” Baker said. “We should be able to support something better than this. And we should be asking the city and developers to help make that happen.”
