Utica YWCA looking to move to new location.

The Utica OD reported that the YWCA of the Mohawk Valley is looking to move.
Last summer, the nonprofit eliminated several programs, including the fitness center and pool, cuts which freed the organization of the need to stay in such a large building.

The move would put a damper on legal proceedings involving the YWCA and a group of Y members called Concerned Swimmers.

YWCA Executive Director Natalie Brown said the organization plans to stay in Utica.
“Without the programs, the pool and fitness center in particular, we don’t need this building. It’s an enormous amount of space,” she said. “We are committed to staying in Utica. Downtown is preferable.”

The YWCA has been at 1000 Cornelia St. since 1916. The nonprofit announced the closure of the pool, fitness center, children’s center and the end of the Ygirls program June 13 due to financial concerns. The pool closed June 30.

The organization has just started to look for a different location and currently does not have any possible sites, Brown said.

“It would be a big decision,” she said. “There are a lot of factors to consider.”
Reasons for staying downtown include proximity to advocates in the court houses, police station and clients, she said.

A meeting several weeks ago between Brown and Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri left the mayor with many questions, he said.

“I don’t know where the savings would be,” he said. “They would still have the responsibility of maintaining the property. I think it would be adding another expenditure.”

Palmieri said he wasn’t sure whether the organization was looking at selling or leasing the building.

“I certainly hope they would stay,” he said. “I think their location now is a great location for them.”
Palmieri also cited the organization’s location to its clients, as well as the bus station, state, federal and county office buildings.

Palmieri also questioned what would happen to the building’s historic value.
Meanwhile, legal proceedings that began last summer over the closure of the pool and programs still are continuing.

Concerned Swimmers, represented by attorney Mark Wolber, is looking for State Supreme Court Justice David Murad to overrule the board’s decision and either call for a meeting of the members to vote on the issue or for the reopening of the pool.
In court on Aug. 24, the YWCA, represented by attorney Merritt Locke, agreed to withhold from taking steps to disable the swimming pool or to dispose of any pool or fitness center equipment until decisions are made by the court.

Wolber said he did not know how the possibility of the YWCA moving to another site would affect the case’s outcome.

“It appears clear that the objective has been to eliminate the aquatics and fitness programs in order to justify closing the building and moving quarters,” Wolber said.
Brown said that was not a factor.

Locke could not be reached for comment.
The next court date is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 21.