At University Avenue and Wheeler Street, the Midway YMCA is sporting a new name and will soon welcome children and parents to a new stand-alone family center.
Built in 1949, the two-story building that previously housed the YMCA’s programs for school-aged children looked every bit its 76 years, according to YMCA officials, up until the day this spring when it was demolished.
“It was showing some age,” quipped Michelle Edgerton, the chief advancement officer for the YMCA of the North, in a phone interview Tuesday.
A new building sporting 12 classrooms, a small gym, a rooftop learning environment and services for parents, kids and tiny tots is expected to open by next fall, finally allowing all of the Midway YMCA’s family programming to land under one roof. Edgerton said the building, which will be located at 530 North Wheeler St., directly across the street from the YMCA parking lot, represents a $19 million, donor-driven investment in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood and the families living along the Green Line corridor.
Well-wishers on Monday attended a groundbreaking for the future Peter J. King Family Foundation Center for Child and Family Wellbeing, which is named after the Golden Valley-based foundation that contributed $5 million toward its construction.
Spanning 27,000 square feet, the center will host dedicated space for arts and culture programming, STEM and healthy living classes. It will serve 2,000 children and 6,000 family members annually, and offer teaching opportunities for student teachers enrolled in institutions of higher education.
Visitors on Monday also took in another rare site — the renaming of the entire Midway YMCA campus after longtime donor Richard Schulze, the founder and former chief executive officer of Best Buy.
Schulze, who grew up in the Midway going to the YMCA and graduating from nearby Central High School, was on hand to help unveil new exterior signage marking the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Midway YMCA. In recent years, his foundation has donated $17 million of philanthropic support to YMCAs across the country, including financial gifts to support the new Peter J. King Family Center and another YMCA in South Florida.
“They have been involved for over 25 years, and in that time have just contributed wonderfully to the Y,” said Edgerton, who attended the dual renaming and groundbreaking on Monday alongside YMCA of the North President Glen Gunderson. “He really spoke wonderfully of the importance of the Y in his life, his family’s life and for the community.”
The YMCA of the North had once hoped to open a new facility in downtown St. Paul, but plans fell through during the pandemic.
“Since COVID, that was no longer an option,” Edgerton said. “We asked Mr. Schulze to transfer that support to the Midway Y. He did give some funding toward the building and the programming that takes place in the building, and offered up a match.”
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