Florida City Ends YMCA Lease on Community Center, Drops Fitness Options

The city of Parkland, Florida, is not renewing the lease of the Broward County YMCA on a city-built community center at the end of the year, the city announced this week. Instead, the city will operate the community center itself without offering the fitness options that the Y had provided.

A notice from the city cited the city's need for indoor programming space as one reason for the lease's end. The city of Parkland built the 24,000-square-foot community center eight years ago and leased the building to the YMCA, which operated it as the Parkland YMCA Family Center. The city also said that it had waived payments by the Y through the years to enable the Y to operate the facility at no cost, and the city had even subsidized the Y in the past.

When the city assumes operation of the community center in January, it will continue to provide many programs similar to the Y's, but individuals who want fitness options are being advised to join one of the nearby commercial clubs, including Anytime Fitness, Crunch, Crossfit, LA Fitness and Fusion Fitness.

"The city has gotten bigger over the last eight years, and we want to have a full-service community center for all of our residents, not just residents who want to join the Y," Parkland Mayor Michael Udine told the Sun Sentinel.

The statement from the city shared that the city plans to offer similar programs to the Y, except for the fitness programs, and the city plans to add additional programs, but no specifics were offered.

The Y is looking for other locations in Parkland, a spokesperson for the Y told the Sun Sentinel.