WILLIAMSPORT -- Ground was broken Thursday for a new YMCA replace the one that's been around since the 1920's in Williamsport.
Breaking ground at the site of the new YMCA in Williamsport has been five years in the making.
Construction started this week on the project that will give "Y" members and this community a YMCA designed the way they want.
"The facility is a tool, for the YMCA organization to help more people and make our community a better and stronger place to live," said River Valley Regional YMCA CEO Dave Fagerstrom.
Kendra Reeder works for the YMCA and with two young children. Is looking forward to having the "Y" close to the hospital and out of the downtown.
"I think it will be better for families to be located here. Be more generalized," she said.
The current YMCA in Williamsport is nearly 100 years old and according to people who use it, the building has outlived its usefulness.
"It's going to be a wonderful thing, it's going to be a nice new fresh facility," said Fred Lilley of Proctor.
"We've added onto that building eight times over the course of the decades," added Fagerstrom.
YMCA leaders said the new "Y" in Billtown will be better able to accommodate folks with mobility issues and should promote health and wellness programs with the nearby hospital.
All that's left to do is raise the remaining $3 million for the project.
And when the ribbon is cut on the new YMCA, Reeder and her daughter Ava will be some of the many people taking advantage of a brand new "Y."
"So excited for the new building, to get rid of the old and in with the new. We're excited for the new Y," said Reeder.
In order to build the YMCA at the new location on High Street, Susquehanna Health bought and demolished roughly twenty homes on the city block.
The new YMCA should be finished by next October.