‘Truly special’: Des Plaines will team with developer to renovate shuttered YMCA facility into new athletic center

Des Plaines is set to purchase a long-vacant YMCA facility and lease it to a company that will renovate the building and operate a new athletic center there before eventually taking ownership, city officials announced Wednesday.

The city council on Monday will vote on a proposed contract to purchase the former Lattof YMCA, 300 E. Northwest Highway, from the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago for $1.85 million. The council then will vote on whether to turn over the roughly 4-acre site to Mount Prospect-based Nicholas Family of Companies for redevelopment.

That’s the group that developed facilities including the Nicholas Sportsplex in Mount Prospect, the Mount Prospect Golf Course and the Rosemont Ice Arena. It also recently purchased the Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills, and it’s building a similar facility in Elk Grove Village that’s expected to open this year.

With an anticipated $22 million price tag, the proposed Lattof YMCA redevelopment will transform the Northwest Highway corridor, Mayor Andrew Goczkowski said.

“We’re leveraging things to change the whole dynamic of the community for the better,” Goczkowski said.

Opened in 1961, the Lattof YMCA featured swimming pools, racquetball and basketball courts, an outdoor skate park and other amenities. It was among the YMCA sites that were permanently shuttered in 2020 because of financial pressures, including those brought on by the then-new COVID-19 crisis.

The property has since fallen into disrepair. Weeds poke through cracks in what was the skate park; several plate-glass windows are covered with plywood; smaller windows are broken and jagged; police occasionally visit the site to deal with suspected trespassers.

The Nicholas Family of Companies reached out to city officials in December with a plan to renovate the property through a public/private partnership, city spokesperson Brad Goodman said.

With such a deal in mind, the city council directed City Manager Dorothy Wisniewski to negotiate a purchase contract with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. The agreed-upon price is $350,000 less than the property’s appraised value, Goodman said.

Under its proposed agreement with the city, the Nicholas Family of Companies will transform the 90,000-square-foot building into a modern community sports complex that also will feature a bar, a restaurant and other amenities.

The city will lend the Nicholas Family of Companies up to $19.8 million over 20 years to help fund the project. That’s 90% of the project cost.

Des Plaines will receive an estimated $5.3 million in interest payments over time, according to the city’s news release.

Nicholas Family CEO Nick Papanicholas Jr. said the project is “incredibly personal” for his family.

“My siblings and I spent countless hours at the Lattof YMCA growing up,” he said in the city’s news release. “It was a place where we learned, played and built lifelong friendships.”

To now be able to partner with the city to bring new life to the property “is truly special,” Papanicholas said.

A Nicholas Family company, the Spectate Group, is lined up to manage the facility, according to the city’s news release. Another company under the Nicholas Family umbrella, Big Fish Hospitality, is set to handle food and beverage operations.

The proposed deal is the latest public/private partnership in Des Plaines. Others include the agreements that led to the renovation of the Des Plaines Theatre and the pending opening of a restaurant called The Dime in a historic former bank building, both in the downtown area. The Des Plaines Park District struck a similar deal with the company behind The Dime to launch the popular Foxtail on the Lake restaurant in one of its buildings.

“With each successful project that comes online, there will be more projects to come and even more interest,” Goczkowski said. “This is the beginning, not the end.”

Monday’s council meeting is set for 7 p.m. at city hall, 1420 Miner St. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed at desplainesil.gov.