ROANOKE, Va. – The YMCA is opening later this year in Tanglewood Mall.
The new Y is slated to open on the second floor and will be 46,000 square feet, featuring pickleball courts, hot yoga studios, saunas and a gym. There will also be two areas for kids. However, this location will not feature a pool like the other YMCA branches in the Virginia Blue Ridge group.
Renovations are slated to start Wednesday, and the project is set to be completed by the end of this year. Officials told 10 News that it could be finished in November or December.
CEO Mark Johnson with the YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge said they wanted to build a YMCA here because there is a gap in the people they serve in the Tanglewood area.
“Most facilities that we have [are] about a 12-minute drive time that people will drive to get to a place. So, that’s kind of the magic number for us that we look at, and this is a changing community, a different family dynamic. This whole area is changing and growing and moving, and so it just felt like the right time,” said Johnson.
There are about 23,000 people who go to the different YMCAs across Southwest Virginia. Johnson said this new Y is expected to bring about 1,800 new memberships, with about 500 to 600 people visiting throughout the day.
He also said that by opening a Y at Tanglewood, they hope to drive more businesses and people to this area.
Roanoke County said currently, it doesn’t intend to expand the Tanglewood area; however, it said it’s attracting a lot of interest daily from restaurants and retailers.
“I see that it will probably attract more businesses because of the transportation improvements, and so it’s only one way to go and that’s to continue building on the successes that we’ve seen in the last five to six years,” said Roanoke County Board of Supervisor Chairman Phil North.
The Hackey Group Real Estate Partners who own Tanglewood Mall said they would like to see more businesses in this area, but like Roanoke County, they do not have anything planned right now.
“I can say that our expectation is that over the coming next couple of years that the mall will continue to evolve and provide new exciting amenities for the community around it,” said Principal Roby Hackney with Hackney Real Estate Partners.