Demolition underway of 5-story Detroit YMCA
Demolition began Monday on a deteriorated and long-vacant YMCA building on Detroit's east side that stopped operating as a Y about 50 years ago.
The five-story Hannan Memorial branch YMCA, 10401 E. Jefferson, opened in 1928 and, like many Detroit YMCAs built before World War II, once offered overnight rooms in addition to standard athletic facilities including indoor swimming pools.
A detailed history of the building, compiled on the Historic Detroit website, describes how there originally were separate boy's and men's entrances as well as separate gymnasiums. The late Free Press publisher and editor Neal Shine once recalled learning as a boy to shoot pool in the branch's billiards room.
The building was sold in 1974 to the U.S. Department of Labor for use as a Jobs Corps training center.
More: What happened to all of Detroit's massive YMCA buildings? 1 is facing the wrecking ball.
In 2005, the federal government transferred the property to a nonprofit, the Women's Justice Center, which helps victims and survivors of abuse, and reportedly had plans to renovate and reopen the building as a health services center. But the plans didn't come to pass.
In 2020, the city sued the nonprofit over conditions of the blighted property, according to Crain's Detroit.
The city eventually took possession of the building in November 2022 in exchange for $20,000, land records show. By that time, most of the building's roof was gone.
A representative for the nonprofit couldn't be reached for comment Monday.
The nearly $2 million cost of demolition was funded with federal dollars from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
Crews and equipment from Detroit-based demolition contractor Homrich started to tear down the east side of the building Monday morning.
The demolition is expected to take two to three months, according to LaJuan Counts, director of the city's Construction and Demolition Department.
Counts said that the prohibitively high cost to redevelop the building — an estimated $20 million — is why the city chose to do the demolition. So far, there are no future plans for the site.
Joshua Roberson, District 5 manager for the Department of Neighborhoods, said the blighted building had become a safety hazard and residents supported bringing it down.
Some older residents can recall visiting the building when it was a YMCA, he said.
“It is nostalgic for several of our seniors," Roberson said. "They have talked to us about being here, about playing here, swimming here."
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Demolition underway of 5-story Detroit YMCA
