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New Downtown Des Moines YMCA Set to OpenI

Rob Dillard

The cardio equipment and weight machines are in place for the opening of the new Des Moines YMCA on New Year’s Day. It’s being billed as the largest downtown YMCA in the country. 

The 180-thousand square foot, 30-million dollar facility fills what once was the Polk County Convention Center.

The CEO and President of the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, Vernon Delpesce, says it was a perfect fit for the Y.

“It was a great repurposing of this building," he says. "Our architect describes it as this building was a YMCA and just didn’t know it.”

There is one missing piece to the new Y. An eight-lane, 50-meter pool is unfinished.  Delpesce says fundraising to complete the pool is ongoing. When finished, city officials hope to use it as a lure for major national and international aquatic events.